The Proustian self-introspection.

[By The Delhi Proustians]

The Proust Questionnaire represents a form of interview that owes its structure to answers given by French novelist Marcel Proust, the author of In Search of Lost Time, at two birthday parties that he attended at ages 13 and 20 in the late 19th century.

In 2013, The Delhi Proustians takes Les confidences de salon (Drawing room confessions) around the city to explore people’s lives, thoughts, values and experiences. This series involves interviews across Delhi and is conducted by writers Manika Dhama and Mayank Austen Soofi.

For the sixth instalment in the series Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire, security guard and office receptionist Banil Singh Panwar made confessions to Mayank. We met at his work place, a highrise on Central Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

Your favorite virtue or the principal aspect of your personality
Good conversation skills

Your favorite qualities in a man
Clean heart

Your favorite qualities in a woman
Clean heart and beautiful eyes

Your chief characteristic
Clean heart and clean talk

What do you appreciate the most in your friends?
They should show interest when I share my feelings with them

Your main fault
I’m very emotional. I cannot see poverty without being deeply affected

Your favorite occupation
Drawing cartoons

Your idea of happiness
Being with my mummy-papa, my wife and my brother and my sister

Your idea of misery or what would be your greatest misfortune?
A world without my mummy-papa

If not yourself, who would you be?
Soldier

Where would you like to live?
Any hill station in my home state Uttarakhand, preferably Mussoorie

Your favourite colour and flower
Green, rose

Your favorite bird
Parrot, because it is green

Your favorite prose authors
Premchand

Your favorite poets
Harivansh Rai Bachchan; he uses less Urdu words in his poems and so they are more understandable

Your favorite heroes in fiction
Aamir Khan’s character in the movie Akele Hum Akele Tum in which he single-handedly raised his son after his wife suddenly left the house

Your favorite heroines in fiction
Nargis Dutt’s character in the movie Mother India in which she single-handedly brought up her sons after her husband suddenly left the house

Your favorite composers
AR Rahman

Your favorite painters
MF Husain

Your heroes/heroines in real life
My papa and Narendra Modi

What characters in history do you most dislike?
Congress party

Your heroines in World history
Mother Theresa

Your favorite food and drink
Rajma-rice, coconut water

Your favorite names
Neel, Sooraj

What do you hate the most?
Lies

The military event you admire the most
Kargil war

The reform you admire the most
The construction of Tehri Dam because of which we hill people have electricity in our villages

The natural talent you’d like to be gifted with
Singing

How do you wish to die?
In my sleep

What is your present state of mind?
I’m thinking what if I become rich

Faults for which you have the most tolerance
—

Your motto in life
Follow the truth

Diving deep within, like Marcel

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