If I had another life, I’d like to come back as Han Solo: Huma Shah

Morning show host Huma Amir Shah on impulsiveness, humour, and the one thing she can’t live without.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Nothing beats great food, accompanied by some serious hunger.

What is your greatest fear?

Losing my taste buds (more than losing my mind)!

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

Sometimes I can’t, or don’t, see the obvious.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

A bad temper.

What is your greatest extravagance?

I talk, and I listen... I guess that would be it.

What is your current state of mind?

Expectant.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Being too agreeable.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

Nothing really... I’m easily satisfied.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Confidence. This shouldn’t be confused with overconfidence.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Confidence and humour.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

“Tu lay ja world cup!”

When and where were you happiest?

Thankfully there are too many incidents to quote.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My impulsiveness, perhaps.

If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

I’d like to come back as Han Solo... for his wit and his knack of turning out to be the accidental hero!

Where would you most like to live?

Right at the edge.

What is your most treasured possession?

My Macbook (and its charger).

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Abject poverty.

Who is your hero of fiction?

My alter ego.

Who are your heroes in real life?

People who stay ‘together forever’.

What is your greatest regret?

Not having enough faith.

What’s your favourite quote?

‘It’s never too late to be what you might have been’ — George Eliot

What kind of super powers would you like to have?

The ability to ‘pause’, ‘rewind’ and ‘fast forward’ life.

What scares you more: lizards or cockroaches?

Lizards — they’re faster.

If you had a time machine, where would you go?

I would travel to the past or 10 years ahead.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what’s the one thing you’d take with you?

The directions back home.

If they made a movie on your life, who would you want to play your role?

Me!

What would the movie be called?

‘Humarella’ (in technicolor, with subtitles).

What’s the last really good movie you watched?

127 Hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, January 23^rd, 2011.