Get to know... Sona Mohapatra

Singer-producer @SonaMohapatra is journaling, listening to Sufi music and craving hot aloo paranthas. She’s also wishing she could mute people

Get to know... Sona Mohapatra

• Currently I am

  Headlining the Sufi Heritage Festival in Delhi.

• High point in life

  I find one every day. Waking up with purpose, creating beauty, and starting conversations that matter.

• Low point in life

  When I spoke up during India’s #MeToo movement and was removed from a TV show. Many accused predators faced no repercussions.

• On my playlist

  Chayanat, by The Anirudh Varma Collective; Ghat Ghat Mein Panchi Bolta, by Kishori Amonkar; Night Song, by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brook.

• One thing I would never buy

  Bots. Or validation.

• Today I’m craving

  Hot aloo parathas with white butter.

• Last thing I ordered online

  Henna for my Untamed Beloved show.

• App I check before bed

  Notes. I journal when the world goes quiet.

• Advice I’d give my 18-year-old self

  Your dissent will scare people. Do it anyway.

• My favourite subject in school

  History, drama, music.

• I’d swipe right on

  Curiosity. Intelligence. And someone unafraid of strong women.

• My secret skill

  I can turn soundcheck chaos into showtime magic.

• A magic tool I wish I had

  A mute button for noise - social, digital, ideological.

• My favourite Sunday memory

  Dawn in the Khadakvasla hills, cycling through mist to the stables, oiling my favourite horse before riding bareback over dew-kissed grass. That’s what teenage freedom tasted like.

• My most star-struck moment

  Meeting the poetry of Kabir after aeons for the Untamed Beloved show and realising it still breathes.

• My favourite bad habit

  Saying exactly what I think.

• If I could travel back or forward in time, I’d…

  Sit with Mirabai for an evening and ask her how she survived being untamed.

• The best thing about fame

  Amplification. When your voice can shift culture and reach someone who needed it that day.

• The worst thing about fame

  Projection. People fall in love with an idea of you, not the (flawed) human being.