Mitra Samal is a techie turned poet and writer. Her works, including poems, stories, essays, and reviews, have been published in The Hooghly Review, Muse India, Borderless Journal, Madras Courier, The Chakkar, and Kitaab, among others.

Her story ‘Sleep-Induced Dilemma’ features in THE BARE BONES BOOK OF HUMOUR. The anthology’s editor Ankit Raj Ojha interviewed Mitra to find out why office secrets make such good stories.

Tell us about your perspective on humour and its place in writing and in life.

I feel you can either take things too seriously or be humorous. I have mostly chosen the latter. Maybe that’s why my blood pressure is still under control and my hair hasn’t visibly greyed. I have also found that the more humorous we are, the more people pay attention, because they find us interesting. It works both in conversation and in writing, I guess. 

What are the things, works, and authors that have influenced your writing? 

I am a huge fan of P.G. Wodehouse. I hope that someday my characters will take after his—of course, in their own unique way. I know that’s an audacious hope, but my mind has the swiftness of a horse while dreaming, though not yet while writing.

All the stand-up comedies and sitcoms that made life endurable during the pandemic, and still continue to light up our lives like a torch with durable Eveready batteries, also deserve due credit! 

Is there any image, phrase, idea, place, person, or memory that became the seed for ‘Sleep-Induced Dilemma’? 

I have seen people dozing off on a bus or at the office and felt I should honour them for making me laugh sometimes. Well, not exactly laughing at them, but I do find it quite funny—the way their heads wiggle, as if they’re on the verge of falling, yet somehow manage to balance themselves just in time. That’s why my protagonist has sleep sickness. But don’t underestimate the sharpness of sleepy people, they can often do wonders when they are awake!