Boori Ma is a 64-year-old refugee from Bengal who works diligently as the stair-sweeper for a Calcutta apartment building. Thin and raspy-voiced, she carries her life savings and skeleton keys tied to the end of her sari, objects from a prosperous life she claims to have lost during Partition. Though the residents doubt her tales of past wealth, they value her extensive services, viewing her as an unofficial doorkeeper for their home.

Mrs. Dalal is a prominent resident of the building who occasionally demonstrates kindness toward Boori Ma. She gives the sweeper ginger paste for her stews and listens to her concerns about an itch, offering to buy her new bedding. While her gestures seem compassionate, they are also motivated by a desire to maintain the building's respectable appearance.

Mr. Dalal works in the modest profession of selling toilet parts until a sudden promotion increases his income. His decision to purchase communal and private water basins for the building acts as a catalyst. This purchase sparks a wave of renovations and a newfound desire for prestige among the other residents.

Mr. Chatterjee is an older man who has not strayed from his balcony or opened a newspaper since Indian Independence. Despite his physical stagnation, he serves as an authoritative voice among the building's residents, who frequently turn to him for judgment and wisdom regarding neighborhood affairs.

Mrs. Misra is a widowed resident living in the Calcutta apartment building. She represents the standard, modest socioeconomic status of the building's inhabitants prior to the Dalals' renovations, possessing only a telephone as her single modern luxury.