According to Vanity Fair, “the Proust Questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.” Inspired by the Proust Questionnaire, we have put together a set of 32 questions designed to reveal the true nature of 4CITIES alumni. Or to at least give us some insight into what they are up to and what makes them, as students of “the urban”, tick.
1. What is your name?
Ansila M. Thomas.
2. Which 4CITIES cohort were you a part of?
Cohort 13 (2021-2023).
3. Where and when were you born?
Kozhikode, India, 1996.
4. Where did you grow up?
Kozhikode.
5. What did you study before 4CITIES?
English Literature.
6. Why did you join 4CITIES?
I wanted to work in a field that allowed for the possibility of social impact.
7. What is your fondest memory from 4CITIES?
Potluck dinners with my cohort and birthday celebrations.
8. What was the most important thing you learned from 4CITIES?
The unfamiliar isn’t quite as scary anymore. Or even if it is, I know that with time one can create small niches of home and comfort.
9. What (if anything) have you studied since 4CITIES?
Not studied anything since. Learned a bunch of stuff, though.
10. Where do you live now?
New Delhi.
11. Where else would you like to live?
Madrid.
12. Which city have you never visited but would most like to?
Dublin.
13. Where is your favorite non-urban place to be?
Nilambur, a little town in north Kerala.
14. What kind of work are you currently doing?
Social design in urban policy.
15. What other work have you done since graduating?
The above mentioned is my first job since graduating.
16. What job would you most like to attempt?
Something to do with GIS. Don’t have the know-how, though.
17. What urban-related job does not exist but should?
Professional park sitters. Just people who sit in quieter public spaces to make them more populated.
18. What about cities do you enjoy the most?
The diversity, the number of activities available, the infrastructure for leisure, the energy.
19. What about cities do you enjoy the least?
The pollution, the rent, the traffic.
20. What about cities do you find most interesting?
How the anonymity allows people to grow into themselves and find communities of like-minded people.
21. What about cities do you think is over-emphasized or over-hyped?
Them being nodes of power and opportunity. It isn’t sustainable to have these few nodes. We need to think of ways to bring employment opportunity to places outside of these nodes.
22. What about cities do you think is under-appreciated?
A good public transport system. It is liberating.
23. Why do you think urban studies is important?
Urbanization is happening n rural and semi-urban spaces at an incredible pace. These places need to be made for people and get right what is wrong and entrenched in older cities. Urban studies is the way to do that.
24. What is one myth about cities that you would like to bust?
That they are cold and alienating.
25. If you could time travel, what city and year would you visit?
Bangalore in the late 1990s. Back when it was still a garden city to be emulated.
26. What is your favorite imaginary city (from books, movies, etc.)?
The city from Avatar (Pandora?)
27. What would you like real cities to learn or take from this imaginary city?
The city is built around nature. Not the other way round.
28. What books, authors, or films would you recommend to someone who wants to better understand “the urban”?
William Dalrymple, “City of Djinns”.
29. What changes would make cities more livable?
Better public transport; smaller cities; more access to nature; affordable rent and good quality housing.
30. What are the most important changes cities must make in response to the sustainability crisis?
Emphasize proper waste management and transportation solutions.
31. If you could change one thing about your city, what would it be?
The air quality. I would do away with the air pollution in Delhi.
32. What question have I not asked that you would like to ask other 4CITIES alumni?
Where should we have a reunion?
You can find Ansila on LinkedIn.
