An Interview with The Zine

Hello, Sat Sri Akalzz and Hi Huku Hi Huku Hi Hi!

So, the peeps at The 'Zine thought I was worthy of an interview (Ha!) and put forth a couple of questions for me to answer not a very long time ago. You'll have to visit their website here to read the whole dialogue, but here's an extract to get you interested. Such bait, much wow!

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Why ‘My Life Is A Jalebi’?

The elders in my family, much like me, live in a delusional world where they believe themselves to be the funniest people to have ever walked this planet. Now, I have no idea about the kind of jokes they used to crack as teenagers, but going by what I have experienced so far, their best jokes are on the lines of “Arrey, aaj khaane mein Rajma banne hain! Raj ki maa: Rajma. Haha!”

Having grown up in a household with such brilliant talent in humor, the only description they’ve had for me while introducing me to never-before-seen and unheard of chachi/mami at family weddings is: “Bilkul jalebi ki tarah seedha hai yeh ladka.” I think that kind of stuck, and on the night when I was creating my blog, I thought I should call it “My Life is a Jalebi”, hoping that whenever a pretty lady would ask me about the significance of the title, I would tell her about how life is full of twists and turns, and more often than not, you may feel like you’re being fried in a big pan of oil (figuratively), but in the end, all this hardship will make you crisp and sweet to dig into. Imagine that being said in Hindi with a Shahrukh Khan head tilt.

Sadly though, no one asked me about the title in all these years and in the meanwhile, I grew up to realize that “sweet to dig into” is a crazy way to describe yourself without coming off as a creep.

What would your three sentences in the game ‘Two truths and a lie’ be?

1. I’ve danced to “Choli ke Peechhe Kya Hai” at the inter-college dance competition in every Delhi University college in 2010-11 - dressed in harem pants and a sequined dupatta.

2. I woke up one morning at IIM-Ahmedabad’s Girls’ Hostel with ten women sleeping on either side, and I had no idea about how that happened.

3. I once went to a National Conference on Banking Frauds as a Speaker, assuming that I had to address a gathering of law students, but was shocked to find that my audience comprised Professors of Finance, Auditors of a few Nationalized Banks, officers from the Reserve Bank and the Chief of Police for the Cyber Crime Department. I was so scared that I ran away from the venue, but returned while there was still time and conducted the session like a boss.

(The first one is false because “every” DU college did not organize a Dance Competition that year. I was there at most of the ones that did.)

To read the rest of the interview, please click here.