Meera Khanna

Meera Khanna

Writer, poet, and social activist, Meera Khanna is Trustee and Executive Vice President of the Guild of Service, an NGO working with and for the empowerment of vulnerable women and children. Meera Khanna has worked as a Consultant on the status of women, Government of India, served as a member on the Expert Committee on Widows constituted by the Supreme Court of India, is on the Global Steering Committee working on a treaty on violence against women, and has helped create a global alliance, ‘The Last Woman First’ for empowering underprivileged women. Her writing on women’s rights has been published in newspapers, journals and anthologies, and her creative expressions have been adapted for dance. Among her widely-acclaimed books is one on career counselling, a collection of poems on Kashmir, and Breaking Paths, which is based on real life narratives.  She is co-editor, with Dr Mohini Giri, of Mantras for Positive Ageing.

Virtual interview:

What kind of music do you most enjoy?
Classical Indian vocal and instrumental, particularly percussion and violin; Western instrumental particularly saxophone; Sufi music; Old Bollywood.
 
What is your favourite cuisine/ dish?
Indian; Italian
 
Favourite sportsman/sportswoman?
P T Usha, Sania Mirza, Serena Williams, Mitali Raj, Martina Navratilova.
 
Do you prefer TV series or films?
Neither
 
Favourite actor/ actress?
No particular favourites, though I like Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Vidya Balan.

Do you prefer Trains or planes?
Trains ( though I haven’t travelled in one for the last many many tears due to paucity of time).
 
Of all the places you’ve been to, which have you liked best?
Florence, Paris, Srinagar, and Kerala.
 
Dream holiday destination still to come?
Scandinavian countries, North East India.
 
If you could time travel, what period would you visit?
Mughal period in India; Elizabethan period in England.
 
What are you reading at the moment?
The transformative Constitution by Gaurav Bhatia; The Battle of Belonging by Shashi Tharoor.
 
What book have you found either the most overrated or underrated?
God of Small things by Arundhati Roy: Over rated
 
If you could pick three historical figures to come to your dinner party, who would they be? 
Akbar, Ashoka and Queen Elizabeth I.
 
What would be your desert island book? 
Asterisk and Tintin.

 

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