Nandan Chakraborty

A book everyone should read is How Not To Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg. What’s striking about this book is the fact that every analyst or journalist makes very basic mathematical mistakes. I also enjoyed The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben and The Kashmir Narrative by Lt Gen Gautam Banerjee.  

I love playing the guitar. Unlike a piano or a flute, guitar is an unnatural instrument. You’d be surprised by the kind of sounds you can create when you experiment. I play for a couple of hours on weekends just to relax and also to compose. I have too many favourite guitarists, if I had to name one then it would be John McLaughlin.

My favourite cuisine is Thai. I also love rasgullas and payesh. Other favourites would be Bengali dishes like begun bhaja (fried eggplant) and various preparations of hilsa.

I’ve travelled to the US and the UK, but Ladakh is my favourite holiday destination. The enticing thing about the region is the variety of things that you don’t get to see elsewhere — the landscape, the night sky where I had shown a constellation to my kids for the first time. There's also the island of Tioman where I went diving and my family snorkeled. Its water makes you feel like you’re in a James Bond movie.

I like mocktails. Unlike most drinks, mocktails are neither too sweet nor limey. They are a mix of everything — just like my reading habit.