I’m a closet romantic: Anish Trivedi

Author Anish Trivedi might as well have stepped out of the sets of a Humphrey Bogart black and white movie, an Oscar Wilde play, or any other era when chivalry was in fashion and wit was in vogue.

One can’t possibly help but be charmed when he calls himself a “closet romantic” and describes his crush on one of his own characters, Sunita, from Still Single. He says, “She was the ideal woman, I loved her, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I would love for my character to be in love and to be happy.”

The author, who recently released his book Call Me Dan, describes his sense of humour as “wry, almost black. This cynicism seems to have seeped into his pores in his career as a society columnist. “Society’s changed. Back then, people did not pay money to feature in articles. They didn’t talk about private matters. Today, there are no secrets and everything needs to be published.”

Trivedi says that the book is not inspired by his real life in any way but sprang forth from his mind. “I created characters out of nothing. In fact,” he jokes, “while Dan might take the local train and live at Grant Road, I wrote this book in Parisian hotels, across Cabana and in Kodaikanal.”

He talks about how he spent 15 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, shadowing as a radio artiste and a VJ. “It was embarrassing and funny at the same time. I used to hide it from clients, but often I would be talking to them and my image would pop up on TV and they would say, ‘Wait, is that you’.”

When not donning his many hats, Trivedi busies himself with “great jazz, great cigars, books and conversation.” He confesses to not understanding trance music and claims expertise on the subjects of “whiskey, wine and cigars.”

And as for good books, “I am alternating between the Eve Dallas series by J.D. Robb and Peter Carey’s Parrot. He adds, “Some day I will actually finish War and Peace.”