Shobna Gulati: What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

The question

What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

In recent times, when I was looking after my mum. She would take me on journeys in her mind and I’d travel with her wherever she went. I felt happy that I had the opportunity to have that time despite her illness.

The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 October 2025 source ↗

Others on this question

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Heidi Klum German-American model and TV host

The first time I saw each of my four children’s faces.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 2 April 2016 source ↗

Harry Enfield English comedy actor and writer

An eight-hour walk along the north Cornwall coast with my eldest children - aged eight and 10. Whoever has eight hours of solid conversation with their children? I loved every minute.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 March 2009 source ↗

Laverne Cox

At the SAG awards in 2016. I remember going into that night saying to myself, “I might not be here again; let me be fully in the moment.” The cast of Orange Is the New Black won the acting-ensemble award for the second year in a row, and I was there with a man I truly loved. That night was everything I had always dreamed about.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, June 2018 source ↗

Joshua Ferris American author