No one is important enough to hate, so far: Sherry Rehman

Politician Sherry Rehman on existential heroes, the need for coffee and living each day like it’s your last.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

That is an oxymoron. Happiness is always imperfect, like nature.

What is your greatest fear?

I can’t be giving ideas to the ISI now...

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

My inability to suffer fools.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Emotional blackmail.

What is your greatest extravagance?

Gauloise Blondes cigarettes.

What is your current state of mind?

Free at last.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Neutrality… often a tedious fig leaf for amorality.

On what occasion do you lie?

To myself when tired.

What do you most dislike about your appearance?

The Rehman proboscis.

Which living person do you most despise?

No one is important enough to hate. Well, so far.

What is the quality you most like in a man?

Emotional intelligence.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Intellectual wattage.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

“Can I call you back?”

When and where were you happiest?

Am still happy.

Which talent would you most like to have?

The ability to empty my mind at any point.

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

I would want a photographic memory, like a computer scanning a life.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

My daughter, the artist drama queen.

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

MA Jinnah with another 15 years to live.

Where would you most like to live?

Here in Pakistan.

What is your most treasured possession?

My dog, Byron, who is unwilling to be my chattel.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

No coffee at a meeting going south. Seriously? Having no country to go home to, like a political exile.

If you didn’t do your current job, what would you choose to do?

Watch this space.

What is your most marked characteristic?

Burning all candles at all ends.

Who is your hero of fiction?

Sisyphus in daylight.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?

Jalaluddin Akbar for his pluralism and vision, Mansur Hallaj for his passion.

Who are your heroes in real life?

People with middle-class incomes donating to charity above their means.

What is your greatest regret?

Regrets are for wimps.

What’s your favourite quote?

Live each day like it’s your last.

How many hours of loadshedding did you experience yesterday?

As many as you did surely. Express must have big generators.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2010.