
Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Booksellers Swati Roy & M Venkatesh, Greater Kailash II
The parlour confession.
[By Mayank Austen Soofi]
Their business is something rare. Swati Roy, a former marketing manager, and M Venkatesh, a former journalist, co-run a bookstore specialising in children’s books. They opened Eureka in 2003 in B Block, CR Park, where they would “pay a fine every other week for running a commercial enterprise in a residential area.” They did move to a local shopping complex but the fairy tale ended when the high rent forced them to shut the store in 2014. Years later, the CMYK bookstore in GK II offered them a part of its space to share. The two reopened their beloved enterprise in March 2020, just in time for the coronavirus to lock down our world. Anyhow, life is returning to normal, and this afternoon both the booksellers, perched next to a Tintin shelf, agreed to be jointly a part of the Proust Questionnaire series in which citizens are nudged to make “Parisian parlour confessions”, all to explore our distinct experiences. Swati (S) and Venkatesh (V) gave separate replies wherever they thought differently.
Your favorite virtue or the principal aspect of your personality
S – giving.
V – seeing the bright side of everything
Your favorite qualities in a man
S – not try too hard to fit a certain image
V – quiet confidence
Your favorite qualities in a woman
S&V – not use the weaknesses associated with a woman in any sphere of life
Your chief characteristic
S – pleasant disposition
V – humour
What do you appreciate the most in your friends?
S&V – fun-loving
Your main fault
S – anxious about not doing enough
V – impatience
Your favorite occupation
S – reading about politics
V – reading and re-reading
Your idea of happiness
S – being in good health and have a little money saved for old age
V – being healthy and stress-free
Your idea of misery or what would be your greatest misfortune?
S – to be friendless
V – losing my sense of humour
If not yourself, who would you be?
S – a pilot
V – a sportsman
Where would you like to live?
S – somewhere close to a river or the sea
V – somewhere quiet and peaceful
Your favourite colour and flower
S – black and jasmine
V – Red and Rose
Your favorite bird
S – sparrow
V – eagle
Your favorite prose authors
S&V – Agatha Christie
Your favorite poets
S – Shel Silverstein
V – Not a great fan of poetry
Your favorite heroes in fiction
S – Atticus Finch, Dr Doolittle, Tintin
V – Tintin, Col. Nicholson, Poirot
Your favorite heroines in fiction
S&V – Miss Marple
Your favorite composers
S – SD Burman
V – R D Burman
Your favorite painters
S – none in particular
V – Husain
Your heroes/heroines in real life
S – Gandhi and Mahasweta Devi
V – Bose & Florence Nightingale
What characters in history do you most dislike?
S – Churchill
V – Hitler
Your heroines in World history
S – Sarojini Naidu
V – Indira Gandhi
Your favorite food and drink
S – Chicken Fried Rice and Fanta
V – Any food with potato, Rum
Your favorite names
S – Mili
V – Jawaharlal
What do you hate the most?
S&V– two-facedness
The military event you admire the most
S – Bangladesh 1971
V – Axis powers surrender
The reform you admire the most
S – RTI
V – Banning child marriage
The natural talent you’d like to be gifted with
S – singing
V – mimicry
How do you wish to die?
S – suddenly
V – in my sleep
What is your present state of mind?
S&V- contented
Faults for which you have the most tolerance
S – pretentiousness
V – genuine mistakes
Your motto in life
S&V– live and let live
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