1. When I was a kid, my parents thought that I would just have a high school degree because I HATED school.
2. I wanted to have a little brother and name him George (after Curious George).
3. My first love in life was a cartoon character (Mighty Mouse). I used to daydream that Mighty Mouse would fly away with me and I would get jealous of his girlfriend, Penelope Mouse.
4. My best girlfriend is someone I knew since I was eight.
5. I started wearing glasses at the age of six. The world wasn’t what I thought it was when they put those frames on me.
6. For a while after, I was dubbed “Mr. Magoo” because my lenses were so thick.
7. I have a nickname, as most Bengalis do, that has nothing to do with my name Soma.
8. My last name is not pronounced MANDEL, it’s really pronounced MONDOL.
9. If you come to my office, you will hear a variety of hip hop, rap (including gangsta), R&B and some new rock from my iPod speakers.
10. I’m privileged to be a doctor but I aspire to be a published author (non-medical) someday.
11. I’ve been in love three times (not including Mighty Mouse).
12. I don’t like raw tomato or bananas on anything.
13. Many people tell me that I am the Margaret Cho of the Indian world.
14. I am a tennis fiend, love playing and watching. I go to the U.S. Open every year, have been to Wimbledon. I will visit all four Grand Slams someday.
15. I have a mean temper which has mellowed out with time.
16. Since I had a nasty fracture two years ago because of a slippery slope, I have intense anxiety attacks when it snows outside.
17. I once toyed with going into music instead of medicine. That was a long time ago.
18. I knew I wanted to be a doctor since I was five.
19. I felt life began when I started college in Manhattan.
20. I speak Spanish pretty well, but can’t roll my R’s.
21. I can do a mean “Long Island accent”. Most people are amazed when I do it and it’s a hit at parties.
22. I have a real “girly” side that most people don’t know about including knitting, crocheting, cooking. But I hate cleaning.
23. Procedures I taught myself to do by reading a book: crocheting, thoracentesis, central line (the IJ approach), knee joint tap.
24. I had a very strange accent when I was a kid, sort of a hybrid between an Indian and American accent. I can conjure up that accent at will.
25. If I could have time back again, I’d love to re-live age 18-22 again.