Nabokov's Questionnaire

I came across this questionnaire on a fellow blogger's site Abantor & here are my answers. I have tried to answer them as truthfully as of this moment, a different mood and a different situation could warrant a different set of answers... but for now here it is

A Questionnaire for the Immodest and Curious - Vladimir Nabokov
Name, patronymic, last name: 
Deepanjana Majumdar 

Pen-name, or a preferred pen-name:  
Raka

Age and preferred age: 
29 and 27

Attitude to marriage: 
so far so good

Attitude to children: 
My attitude to them depends on the parents of the said children

Profession and preferred profession: 
Professionally being trained to be a geomatics expert (whatever that means) In another life would love to be a writer or involved in performing arts!

What century would you like to live in? 
Would have loved to live my youth in the 1960’s, seems that the world was much more liberal back then or too involved in sex, drugs and rock’n’roll to go to war! mid 20th century onwards, better sanitation, improvement in life expectancy etc. etc.

What city would you like to live in? 
New York/Paris/san Francisco

From what age do you remember yourself and your first memory? 
Don't know if I really remember it or it’s an effect of the story being repeated to me multiple times, I don't trust my memories, I believe most of it is made up. But my maternal grandparents’ house features in a lot of them.

Which of the existing religions is closest to your world-view? 
None

What kind of literature do you like the most? What literary genre? 
Since one of my favourite books is a Roman á clef I would name that, I also like Bildungsroman and crime fiction. I believe our preferences change with our experiences in life.

Your favorite books: 
The Fountainhead, The Bell Jar, Gone with the Wind, We the Living, P.G. Wodehouse

Your favorite art: 
Photography and Indian classical dance forms

Your favorite artwork: 
The Swing- Renoir and Water Lilies -Monet 

Your attitude to technology:  
Necessary evil

Do you appreciate philosophy? As a form of scholarship, as a pastime:  
Yes I do, I like to discuss Ideology, philosophy gives a structure to thought.

Do you believe in progress?
I believe in evolution, if that encompasses progress, then yes.

Your favorite aphorism: 
You made your bed, now lie in it

Your favorite language: 
That would have to be Bengali and English - Urdu comes a close 2nd.

On what foundations does the world stand? 
Big Bang

What miracle would you perform if you had a chance? 
Eradicate hunger

What would you do if you suddenly got a lot of money? 
After giving some away to cure diseases and provide food to the hungry I would travel the world with the rest of it.

Your attitude to modern woman: 
Good on you mate!

Your attitude to modern man: 
About time!

What virtue and vice do you prefer and disapprove of in a woman? 
multitasker and fickle

What virtue and vice do you prefer and disapprove of in a man? 
their ability to chill out and their cluelessness.
I think I should mention here that I wrote the above answers in all seriousness but I don't think men and women are that different and it is hard to generalise.

What gives you the keenest pleasure? 
travelling

What gives you the keenest suffering? 
children suffering

Are you a jealous person? 
No

Your attitude to lies:  
I sometimes prefer to hear a lie than the true.

Do you believe in love? 
Yes- all kinds of love

Your attitude to drugs: 
We wouldn't have any groundbreaking music and art without them. 

Your most memorable dream: 
Being lost and cant find my way back home.

Do you believe in fate and predestination? 
In the loosest possible sense.

Your next reincarnation? 
Inanimate object

Are you afraid of death? 
Je ne sais pas

Would you like man to become immortal? 
No

Your attitude to suicide: 
More painful for those who live on.

Are you an anti-Semite? Yes. No. Why? 
No, if I were an anti semite I would be anti a lot of other ethnic groups and communities too… I am anti nothing. 

Do you like cheese? 
No

Your favorite mode of transportation: 
Train

Your attitude to solitude: 
solitude is an absolute necessity for personal growth and creativity. 
Man should be comfortable in his own company. 


Favorite menu: 

Bengali food, like mom makes and grandma made

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And when white moths were on the wing

The best thing about good movies are that no matter how many times you watch them there's always something new that you had not noticed the previous times. It's like peeling an onion only much more pleasant. This time it's The Bridges of Madison County : Robert and Francesca discuss Yates and a while later Francesca goes and pastes a note on the side of the bridge, I could never read what was written on the note because it fades away to quickly. This time I paused to read it, it had a quote from The Song of Wandering Aengus. Aengus is an Irish Mythic character and "probably a god of love, youth and poetic inspiration" and Robert Kincaid is of Irish descent. I think there was a connection made with that poetry and the story of Kincaid. He is an old man and finally found the woman he has dreamt of all his life, tired of all the wandering a being a "citizen of the world" he wants to settle down with this woman but he can't have her. It's a beautif
Read more

Benimadhab Benimadhab

Never in my worst nightmares have I ever imagined writing anything titled "Benimadhab Benimadhab". Bengalis who listen to modern bengali music must have already guessed what this could be about but I have a story to share. Didibhai used to listen to a lot of music, especially the radio back in the late 1990s. So naturally I had to listen to a lot of music she liked. She was the one to introduce me to all kinds of music that I associate my memories with. I never quite liked the bengali songs she would listen to. Anjan Dutta and Suman and Nachiketa, the cult music of the time. I was too young to appreciate it, I never understood what they were singing about. Today I can appreciate them even if they aren't my preferred choice of music and I believe not my didibhai's either. It has been more than a decade since Lopamudra's famous song Benimadhab aired for the first time on FM. Didibhai bought the cassette but I failed to understand why such a funny old-fashioned name
Read more

Dhobi ka Kutta!

Image
Many of us who live outside our motherlands study at universities abroad, mainly the USA and UK, and Germany is also a popular destination for engineers and Mathematicians. Very often than not we need a certificate of knowledge of English Language in the forms of TOEFL or IELTS to pursue education in these countries. I have never given much thought to this procedure as I understand that English is after all the 1st language in US and UK and it is their mother tongue. But recently while searching for programs in German Universities I realized that most courses are taught in German, therefore to study them you need certificate of knowledge of German Language and for the courses taught in English you need a TOEFL or IELTS certification; it suddenly struck me that we (especially Indians)do such injustice to ourselves India is one of the very few countries that has a very strong background of English language knowledge in spite of it not being OUR mother tongue. Some of us actually speak be
Read more