Sirish started testing cars and bikes straight out of engineering college, and nearly two decades on – despite a short detour to work for the best car company in the world – firmly believes that automotive journalism is the best job in the world. “I get paid to travel the world driving and riding the most incredible cars and bikes!” he gushes. Testing cars led him to rallying, winning his class in the Raid and Desert Storm rally raids. Learning the Scandinavian flick on an ice driving experience north of the Arctic Circle prompted him to enter the Indian rally series where he finished runner-up in the Group N 2000cc and 1600cc national championships. He also co-founded what was once India’s largest rally team, taking the first victory for the Polo in the Indian rally championship, and then recognising the incredible hurdle that is motorsport sponsorship he launched what is still India’s only motorsport magazine. Most recently he took part in the Vento Cup, finishing on the podium in his very first race. Sirish is part of the Indian Car of the Year, Indian Motorcycle of the Year and World Car of the Year juries and also spearheads the Times Auto Awards in partnership with evo India and Fast Bikes India.
Everyone in the industry knows him as ‘the Bossman’ and also not to mess with Adil. He still has a tee with “Here Comes Trouble” inscribed on it. He has been evaluating automobiles for over 40 years yet he is the youngest individual in the office, claiming to be 18 years young. Adil is also a noted automotive historian and has seven titles to his name, winning international awards for them. He loves his bikes just a little more than cars but ice cream ranks higher!
Assistant Editor at evo India, Aatish started his career at this magazine and has always been here save for a year-long sabbatical at BBC TopGear India. With six years of car and motorcycle testing under his belt, he swears by anything Porsche and is looking for free KTM Powerparts for his 390 Duke. He believes, quite contrary to popular opinion, that print is not dead and will survive for a very long time.
Rohit started out photographing bees in his backyard but the bug bit him (the photo bug, not the bee), and it bit him hard. He progressed to fashion, events and even portraits before he found his calling — automotive photography. A lot of the stunning travelogue photos you see in the magazine are this man’s doing. The best part? Not only is he handy behind the lens, but is quite skilled behind the wheel as well!
Suvrat is the cultural tour-de-force in our office. He brings cultural pluralism with is fluidity in French, Marathi, Marwadi, Hindi and of course English. Called ‘Suvi’ by many of his colleagues, he’s also the most Puneri guy in the office and that’s reflected in the way he fearlessly zips around town with new cars and bikes and his obsession with misal pav every time we step out for shoots. He’s also done the most Toyota advertorials and that makes him the director of the Toyota Centre of Excellence, an abstract entity existing in his head that brings accurate facts and figures relating to Toyotas.
Jayesh is our assistant art director. The visually pleasing layouts that you see in the evo India magazine are a result of Jayesh’s profound creativity. While the team travels the country gathering content, Jayesh is the one who puts it all together, adding finishing touches and making our magazine look drop dead gorgeous. He is always intrigued by new cars, picturesque landscapes and loves encouraging the youngsters by calling their work ‘perfect’ even if it isn’t. In these lockdown times, Jayesh has also been responsible for keeping our heads cool in the office by becoming the tea in-charge. He also loves snacks and rarely ever will you see Jayesh’s desk without chiwda, farsan or biscuits.
Often referred to as ‘boom boom Benny’ due to undisclosed reasons, Abhishek is our resident shutterbug and reel king. Thanks to his exceptional reel selection skills and vast knowledge of what works on social media, we now get million plus views on our Instagram reels regularly. He likes riding bikes, loves shooting them even more and simply can’t stop swiping right on certain apps in his free time.
Perhaps as much in love with Porsche 911s as he is with sneakers (and good food), Karan claims his love for cars started before he learnt to speak, even though there is a rumour around the office that he fell asleep while attending his first ever Grand Prix! He likes to find weird quirks about cars and dedicates a fairly large space in his head to random car facts and an equally large space in his heart for cars with cool specs. He came across this career path by chance, and going by how excited he gets as soon as new metal rolls into the office, he seems to be loving every day of his journey as an automotive journalist.
Prathmesh is our in-house magician. No, he isn’t good at making coins disappear between fingers, but is extremely good at adding the magic element to our videos. Prathmesh spends hours every day fine-tuning our drive reviews, road tests and travel videos, crafting them to absolute perfection. He has contributed to the growth of our YouTube channel with his quirky and out-of-the-box ideas. He’s also got a sweet-tooth and makes sure others have it too. Every time he goes back to his hometown of Ujjain, he returns with tons of lip-smacking sweets that none of us can resist.
Karan is not only good at editing videos, but also is a skilled cinematographer. When he’s assigned a project, he just knows how to go about it. Since he has joined evo India, his liking for supercars has skyrocketed and now he daydreams about driving a Ferrari. He also loves Indian food, but all we ever see him eating in office is salad and eggs.
An absolute automotive-nut and metalhead who loves everything on wheels and the technology that drives them. However, Karan likes the two-wheeled variety just a bit more than the others. When not out riding, or doing something revolving around bikes you'll find him playing some heavy riffs on his guitar or tinkering with broken pieces of tech.
A petrolhead for as long as he can remember with a passion for everything on two and four wheels, Aniruddha stepped into the rallying arena at the age of twenty one. That’s where he met editor Sirish, who saw his passion for cars and bikes and gave him an opportunity to write for evo India magazine. He now tests cars for evo India while being responsible for all the motorsport content including Motor Sport India magazine.
