When they are not reframing India's economic strategy of liberalisation, or poring over policy proposals in North Block, you could find them clicking a camera--or even shaking a leg. Two of the Union Ministry of Finance's top bureaucrats, Union Finance Secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia, 53, and Union Revenue Secretary Nand Kishore `NK' Singh, 56, appear to have hobbies that take their minds off business. Last month, NK (above) an avid photographer of Mother Nature, held his first exhibition, Japan: The Four Seasons, at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai--to rave reviews. "I believe that the pursuit of a hobby provides an equilibrium with my professional responsibilities," he says. As for Montek (right)--and his economist-wife, Isher Judge Ahluwalia--they were caught thoroughly enjoying the Channel [V] Music Awards function in Delhi on October 18, 1997. With these hard-nosed bureaucrats finally enjoying life after liberalisation, any guesses about the kind of budget we can hope for on February 28, 1998?

He's corporate India's new legal eagle. Forty-one-year-old Riain Karanjawala, (left), is the flavour of the country's courtroom circuit, with a client-list that reads: Lufthansa, News Corporation India--a.k.a. star tv--and yes, Tata Tea. Already, the suave attorney has won a victory of sorts for star tv by helping its CEO, and ex-bureaucrat, Ratikant Basu, climb back into the hot seat despite the goi. Now, of course, Riain faces an acid test as the legal representative of the Rs 723-crore Tata Tea--he is on the panel of lawyers appointed by the company--who must take on the Assam State Government for Tata and company. "I'm basically a people's person," is all that Riain has to say, when asked about his courtroom pyrotechniques. Surely, no prosecutor can probe if you have Riain around…

She's the spirit, if not the sound, of music. While the chairman of the Rs 103-crore spl Ltd (the erstwhile Somany-Pilkington), H.L. Somany, 77, is busy leading the Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry as its president, his 76-year-old wife, Kamla, (below), has managed to memorise more than 500--actually, she has never counted--Rajasthani folk-songs. Born to a family of ardent music-lovers--her brother is the well-known musician, Brij Bhushan Kabra--in Kuchaman Village in Rajasthan's Jodhpur district, Kamlabai began learning these folk songs by rote when she was only six years old.

Says the reticent septuagenarian, who sings only in private: "I have a song for every occasion. But I normally don't sing in front of the menfolk." Adds the doting Somany, a connoisseur and collector of Rajasthani folk music in his own right: "She was 14 years old when we got married, and I saw a flair for music in her then. So, I've always supported her." As a tribute, the Rajasthan Sangeet Natak Academy published Geetayan, a book containing the verses of 20 of Kamlabai's favourite songs two years ago. Now, if only the rest too could be recorded for posterity…

Feathers galore in the cap of Shekhar Datta, (left), the 58-year-old CEO of the Rs 814-crore engineering giant, Greaves. Last month, the past president of the Confederation of Indian Industry became the first Indian CEO to be appointed to the 23-member board of the International Business Advisory Council (IBAC), which has been set up by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation as a sounding-board on strategic issues concerning the corporate sector. "I feel proud to be the first Indian on the board of the ibac," says Shekhar. Add to this the first hsbc Indo-British award--presented to him by Queen Elizabeth II herself--in recognition of his contribution to the fostering of Indo-British business relations--and 1997 has surely been a rewarding year for Shekhar. Bravo!