The Curious Case of Sumana Mukherjee
(All of us are born curious. Some of us actively practice it, irrespective of age. Our Curious Cases series gives you a glimpse into the minds of such curious folk. May they rub off you the right way!)
As a reviewer for Mint correctly and other publications like Outlook, Forbes and the Indian Express before, delves into back stories of everything from traditional weaves to soul-stirring food - writing with insight and gleeful incision. Based in Bangalore, she is who you go to for knowing what’ll be in vogue in India tomorrow. Never miss her heart-warming write-ups on Kolkata though.
Name
Sumana Mukherjee
Location
Bangalore
What I do
Read, write, eat and edit.
On the Curiosity scale, I am...
Super Curious
What I prefer to consume (in descending order of preference):
books>social media>newspapers>TV shows>movies
Number of books and movies I get through in a year
34 books last year. Probably an equal number of movies.
One book I'd recommend to a friend / colleague:
Depends on the kind of person, really. I certainly wouldn't recommend everything I read to everyone.
My best source for book / movie / website recommendations:
Twitter and reviews.
One movie / show I've loved that hardly anyone else has watched
Rocket Singh, Salesman of the Year
I am currently reading:
Book 2 of The Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante
One place on Earth that I am very curious about:
Oh, so many! Food is a huge curiosity trigger, so Morocco definitely tops the list.
Website(s) that I get a lot of useful info from:
If it's strictly info, then recipe websites!
One topic I am super-opinionated about:
Books and reading
People come to me to find out what I think about these topics:
Food, books, careers, relationships, in no particular order.
What I prefer to use (in descending order of preference)
Facebook for the personal stuff, Twitter for everything else
The strangest food item I have eaten
Ants. And goat brain. Ants were crunchy and too small for squeamishness, but couldn't abide the texture of brain.
If I could spend a day in the mind, body, and shoes of a person, it would be...
The mind of Michael Pollan. I'll stick to my own body and shoes, please!
One interesting / fun fact I recently learnt:
There are communities in India that put up billboards to announce a child's puberty.
I stay up-to-date by doing this...
Scrolling through Twitter.
One interesting/fun fact about myself
I can wiggle my ears! Apparently, only 10-20 percent of people can ;)
I express my curiosity by doing these things:
Asking questions. Reading. Connecting dots.
The one thing I am very interested in
Society and people
A habit or skill I'd love to acquire:
Dancing.
A movie or TV show that taught me something new
Newsroom -- that I can like a show about people who'd drive me up the wall at work.
If there was one mystery I'd like to solve, it would be
Why recipes say "brown onions for 10 minutes" when it takes at least three times the time.
I would love to do this at least once
Read all the books I have :)
People I would like to ask all these same questions to:
Veena Venugopal. Gautam John. Poonam Bir Kasturi. Supriya Nair. Nisha Susan.
Curiosity is important to my work because...
We are always looking for answers.
Someone I know who asks a lot of questions
The desk at Mint Lounge, where I work.
My curiosity tip
Trust your instinct.
Where you can be found online
@SumanaMukherjee on Twitter