Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Maliha Sultan, Gurgaon

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Maliha Sultan, Gurgaon

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] She spent her growing years in a home that overlooks Humayun’s Tomb. Perhaps it was the perfection of the Mughal-era dome that inspired her to become an architect. Maliha Sultan’s work has straddled…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Annie Ernaux, Gali Kebabiyan

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Annie Ernaux, Gali Kebabiyan

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] One of the world’s greatest living authors, French novelist Annie Ernaux is in our city to attend the Delhi Book Fair, in which France is the guest of honour. The 2022 Nobel laureate…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Neha Ansari, Gali Chandi Wali

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Neha Ansari, Gali Chandi Wali

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Neha Ansari is young and wishes to spend her life as an artist. Her immediate career goal is to become a hotel receptionist. She recently finished a 11-month-long “hotel management course” in a…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Satish Sundra, Ram Chander & Sons

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Satish Sundra, Ram Chander & Sons

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] He sits in Connaught Place (CP) daily. This has been his routine since 1954. Indeed, he is like our dear old CP of the earlier times, when the colonial-era arcade was said to…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Shalini Bahadur, Park Place, Gurgaon

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Shalini Bahadur, Park Place, Gurgaon

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Along with her two daughters, original paintings, a lot many novels, and with coffee cups from across the world thar her Chandigarh-based parents gift to her from their holidays, Shalini Bahadur lives amid…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Proust Scholar William C. Carter, On Marcel Proust's 100th Death Anniversary

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Proust Scholar William C. Carter, On Marcel Proust’s 100th Death Anniversary

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] How many people do you know who have actually read In Search of Lost Time in its entirety? Marcel Proust’s French novel, À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu, has seven volumes and more…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Rekha Massey, Paharganj

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Rekha Massey, Paharganj

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Each time she flashes a smile, its sunshine radiance lights up her Bubbles, the boutique she has been running inside a Paharganj cafè for 15 years. Delhi’s backpackers’ district is yet to recover…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Indrajit Ghoshal, Cyberhub

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Indrajit Ghoshal, Cyberhub

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Say salam-namaste to this very special data analyst. Indrajit Ghoshal works in a Gurgaon MNC; he also leads Poetry Darbaar, an initiative for poetically minded muggles he co-founded in 2016. This evening, while…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Mehreen Shah, H Nizamuddin West

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Mehreen Shah, H Nizamuddin West

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] Her “mom,” her “bhayya,” her sister-in-law—they all are offering evening namaz. While Mehreen Shah is reading a Salman Rushdie novel. Ensconced in her room at their Hazrat Nizamuddin West house, Mehreen, a street…

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Money Changer Sunil Chawla, Connaught Place

Delhi’s Proust Questionnaire – Money Changer Sunil Chawla, Connaught Place

The parlour confession. [By Mayank Austen Soofi] A dollar, a yen, a euro or a pound, or a rupee, is all that makes the world go around. It is in this spirit that foreign money changer Sunil Chawla agrees to…