Kerala - Comfortably Numb

Book review: The House of Oracles by Chandini Santosh

In Chandini Santosh’s novel The House Of Oracles, the Manikoth House of the title assumes the mantle of an important character. The ancestral house is a big brooding presence, casting a dark shadow on the people living there. The deaths that stalk them in various ways, is considered a legacy of the house, yet darkness…

Book review: The Small-town Sea by Anees Salim

This boy’s life An account of a young life lived on a cliff overlooking an ever-changeable sea. Anees Salim remarked in an interview that the success of each book was making it harder for him to write the next book. Well, it is also getting harder for the reviewer assigned to critique his…

Travel: Nelliyampathy, Kerala

Beyond the cloudy mountains Where I chance upon Nelliampathy, an idyllic hill station tucked high up in a fold of the Western Ghats above Palakkad. The whole area is jaw-droppingly beautiful, even for a typical Kerala landscape. Navy ribbons of road, red-tiled houses, topography in all possible shades of green, the emerald of the trees…

Travel: Kadavu Resort, Kozhikode

Beyond the backwaters….. How much can you have of a good thing? A true blue Malayali sets out to bust the beauty myth, and fails. Whatever was Outlook Traveller doing, sending a Malayali into the Malabar hinterlands? Most ‘Mallus’ suffer from a surfeit of natural beauty and now view the backwaters, the ‘kettuvalam’ boats, and…

Travel: Bekal, Kerala

Romance in Stone Considering the 300-year old fort with its ramparts looking out at the by turns becalmed and furiously lashing sea, was occupied in succession by the Vijaynagar kings, Tipu Sultan and the rulers of the Raj, its origins are anything but romantic. The Mani Ratnam connect However, Tipu and Co are long…

Travel: Wayanad, Kerala

This excerpt ran in Outlook Getaways LAKKIDI Tarzan Territory Whatever was Outlook Traveller thinking of, sending a Mallu into the rainforests during the rains? Well, it was inspired thinking. It proved that Kerala still holds some surprises up her green sleeves that can get under the skin of even beauty-hardened denizens of…

Travel: Taliparamba, Kerala

Where the bells ring The small town of Taliparamba near Kannur is famous for its many temples Even in a state that throws up one fresh tourist spot after another, the small town of Taliparamba, 20 km north of Kannur, lies a little off the beaten track. Basically a spread of about 47 villages, the…

Travel: Olavipe, Kerala

Backwater idyll They call the homestead Olavipe, `gift of the waves.’ Set in the south of an isle off Kochi, the place is a lotus eater’s delight, says SHEILA KUMAR. FOR a structure supposedly risen from the waves, Olavipe stands rock solid, a sprawling manor in the old Kerala style, naalukettu, tiled roof, fretted gables, stone…

Travel: Tipu`s Fort, Palakkad

Silent sentinel In the heart of Palakkad town sits Tipu’s Fort, a majestic edifice with a chequered past. Sheila Kumar takes a ramble. It is Tipu’s fort but it was built by his father Hyder Ali in 1766. The sizeable fortress is a striking feature of Palakkad town, one which most locals take entirely…

Travel: Kadavu Resort, Kerala

FOOTLOOSE Riverine reverie As you sit gazing enthralled at the swollen Chaliyar river near Kozhikode, you discover anew the many simple pleasures of life. The next time you want to get away from it all, really get away from it all, do a spot of lotus eating, write that long overdue Booker-potential magnum…