India Queen owner Bhavnesh Kaushik, a fixture in the local community and well-known friend of many students, hosted his third annual Valentine's Day Charity Auction Saturday evening.
Over 200 students and Hanover residents swarmed the restaurant to bid on seven bachelors and bachelorettes as Valentine's Day dates, raising over $4,000 for the tsuanmi relief efforts and 10 Bricks Homeless Shelter.
The highest bid was over $600, according to graduate student Ken Leslie, who emceed the event.
"People were pretty liquored up by that point in the evening," Leslie said.
According to Leslie, Kaushik's willingness to donate his space for charity and social events when approached by students is emblematic of his open and flexible personality. The restaurateur has hosted Tequila Queen, Canada Day and India Queer parties in the past. Sororities and senior societies occasionally rent out the restaurant for karaoke, also known as "Curry-oke."
India Queen is a social hub for graduate students, ultimate frisbee women and members of The Tabard coed fraternity, according to Leslie. Kaushik is known as "the patron saint of grad students," and is donating his old Lincoln Continental to be used by graduate student friends for a demolition derby this fall in Tumbridge, Vt.
When Kaushik is not hosting the parties himself, he is very involved with the social scene on campus.
"I see him all the time when I go out," said Alexa Spielhagen '06, an India Queen employee. "I've seen him at Gatsby, Panarchy and Disco Inferno. He's quite a personality."
Kaushik, a member of for Tabard seven years , said he attends Wednesday meetings when the restaurant is having a slow night. He described the members as "like a big family."
"It's amazing how smart these kids are," Kaushik said. "They go over everything -- about what is going on in the world, about this Iraq war, about what is good for the economy. It is amazing at this age how much they know about it."
Spielhagen described Kaushik as having a great sense of humor, and employee Lorraine Ferron '06 added that he is very socially in-tune.
"He likes to heckle people," Ferron said. "He knows who has dated who, who broke up with who -- all those intricacies."
Kaushik may have arrived fashionably late to Tabard's Disco Inferno party Saturday, but he turned heads with an even more dramatic entrance a year ago. When Kim Souza, owner of The Revolution clothing store in White River Junction, Vt., held her annual fashion show in the Collis Center last year, Kaushik appeared for a surprise finale dressed in full Indian garb.
"He walked out on stage at the end, sauntered to the end and walked back," Ferron said. "He looked like a pimp."
Kaushik said one of the most gratifying parts of his job is seeing students years later; several cards from alumni decorate his walls.
"It makes me happy to see these kids move on and be successful in their lives," he said. "When they come back to Hanover, their first stop is India Queen."
