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

For the fifteenth installment of Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire, Supriya Anand, an entrepreneur, made confessions to Manika at her home in Sector 44, Noida, a Delhi suburb.

Your favorite virtue or the principal aspect of your personality
My honesty

Your favorite qualities in a man
Honesty, strength, being proper, courteous, and good looks

Your favorite qualities in a woman
Compassion and strength

Your chief characteristic
Determined and enthusiastic

What do you appreciate the most in your friends?
Them being genuine

Your main fault
Anger and fearfullness

Your favorite occupation
Trying & staying happily productive and creative. In doing something that would help me share the joy in what I do with as many people as possible

Your idea of happiness
Cleanliness and peace

Your idea of misery or what would be your greatest misfortune?
Chaos, confusion, no direction, disrespect for oneself and one another

If not yourself, who would you be?
Definitely someone who’d be doing something related to travel or luxury

Where would you like to live?
In a clean, beautiful place harmonious with nature

Your favourite colour and flower
These days it’s pink but I also fancy red, orange and green; flower is jasmine

Your favorite bird
I like them all but the eagle fascinates me

Your favorite prose authors
I like Rainer Maria Rilke — his writings establish the interconnectedness of everything around. If read over and over I also find deep reasoning in his poetry which for me is like therapy

Your favorite poets
Don’t read much of poetry (other than Rilke) but prefer the ‘romantics’ genre

Your favorite heroes in fiction
Professor Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. Love him to death. I like people who have a clear understanding of who they are and what they need to do with their lives irrespective of the customs and conventions. Personally I do relate to him and envy his decadent yet value-creating life as shown in the film

Your favorite heroines in fiction
Has to be Scarlett O Hara; going by my previous answer, I think I have a fondness for stubborn yet good hearted characters

Your favorite composers
[No response]

Your favorite painters
Art for me is ever evolving, incidentally I recently curated an art show and found myself to like the soothing calming
ones. So can’t treat this question as objective

Your heroes/heroines in real life
My mother and my father for the strength, goodness and selflessness they’ve shown throughout their lives, especially at crucial times, when it matters the most. There’s so much I need to learn and apply in my own life through the heroism they have shown in their lives

What characters in history do you most dislike?
No one really, I believe each played the part they were supposed to

Your heroines in World history
Mother Teresa

Your favorite food and drink
Clean, healthy, home-cooked food

Your favorite names
Mine

What do you hate the most?
Disrespect and violence

The military event you admire the most
[No response]

The reform you admire the most
Self-reform. That’s because the only person or being you’re responsible for and can control and change for the better is yourself. The rest the environment will reflect naturally in its good time. That’s a belief I like to live by

The natural talent you’d like to be gifted with
I wish I could play the violin brilliantly

How do you wish to die?
Content with oneself

What is your present state of mind?
Seeking, searching; but I know I’ll get there

Faults for which you have the most tolerance
Carelessness

Your motto in life
Be good. Stay happy