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Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Kevin Kelly, Sardar Patel Marg

Delhi's Proust Questionnaire - Kevin Kelly, Sardar Patel Marg

Portrait of a citizen.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The Proust Questionnaire series has been appearing on this page for some years. The respondents have been waiters and writers, beggars and booksellers, ear cleaners and home makers. This time, we have the ambassador of Ireland—and for good reason. The birth anniversary of Ireland’s greatest writer falls this Sunday, 2nd February, which also marks the anniversary of the publication date of his greatest book. James Joyce’s Ulysses is the most descriptive city novel ever written, and reading it feels not only like walking the streets of Dublin, where the novel is set, but also like wandering through the galis and kuchas of our very own Purani Dilli. Over to Dubliner Kevin Kelly, currently one of us Delhiwale, at his Sardar Patel Marg residence.

Your idea of happiness.
Pier jumping into the Atlantic Ocean on a hot Irish summer’s day.

Your idea of misery.
Watching the steady decline into old age of my mother.

Your favorite bird.
The Magpie so long as it’s a pair of them! I’m superstitious and have to bless myself three times if I see a single magpie (“One for sorrow, Two for joy…”).

Your favorite composers.
Seán O’Riada, Irish composer and arranger of Irish traditional music. Through his incorporation of modern and traditional techniques he became the single most influential figure in the revival of Irish traditional music during the 1960s.

What characters in history do you most dislike?
General Reginald Dyer was an Irish man who joined the British colonial enterprise in India. He was responsible for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar. He represents the darker side of Irish history in India, luckily not the entire story as many Irish men and women have a prouder legacy of working with Indian freedom fighters to fight the Empire.

Your heroines in World history.
Rosa Parks who took a stand for civil rights in America and inspired the world.

Your favorite names.
Maya and Noah (the names of my two children!).

The military event you admire the most.
A non-military event: The signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland.

The reform you admire the most.
The modernisation of Ireland – best exemplified by the Popular Referendum of 2015 which legalised marriage equality.

Your motto in life.
“Let it go…”

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