Twinkle Khanna: I look after my brain

Twinkle Khanna

There's an unbearable lightness of being to Twinkle Khanna. She could be sitting right in front of you, looking deadpan as she sips tea and critiques a complex Houdini-level dress chosen for her by a stylist. But her mind is always running in circles. She insists she's tough to crack, that she hides behind her jokes. No one knows if she believes in love or God, ghosts or religion.

One would never guess who is Twinkle Khanna's muse at home when she sits to write. "There are some domestic staff members I pay just to do silly things, like this guy who just brought us tea," she points out to Vogue India for its March 2018 issue. He features in her column as 'Desi Jeeves'. He came to her one day saying she has a Diwali gift from 'Amma Jaan'. It was Amazon. "I find it delightful. I give him a tip when he does these things. It gives me material for my columns."

On her favourite thing about herself, Khanna tells Vogue, "I look after my brain". "Eventually I will come to a point where looks will begin to fade and I'd have to rely on my brain until I get Alzheimer's and then I'd have nothing to rely on." She's already in the process of trying to avoid Alzheimer's. What you need is to learn a new skill; new skills forge and fire new neural connections. "Learning the Salsa and speaking French are on my list."

Ask her about her happy smell, she says, "When I first met my husband, he insisted I smell like glucose biscuits. I found that quite odd. I realise now that he probably meant I smell of vanilla."

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