India, June 17 -- Poet Ana Dehlavi is a familiar face in the world of Delhi's poetry meets. This day, she graciously agrees to join our Proust Questionnaire series, in which citizens are nudged to make "Parisian parlour confessions", all to explore our distinct experiences.

The principal aspect of your personality.

I'm a shayara, a poetess. That is the chief aspect of my being. You must understand that not everyone has the fortune to be a poet. Especially for a woman with my family background. My nanihal (mother's family) is in Lucknow and my dadihal (father's family) is in Aligarh. Both branches of my family are conservative. Back in the days when I had started rendering my poems before live audiences, not everyone in my khandaan was c...