Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Column: All who wander are lost but happily so

The Popcorn Brain syndrome Tech terminology has unleashed another kicker  on us, telling us all about  the popcorn brain and how to avoid developing one. The term refers to a multitude of  kernel-like thoughts jostling about in one`s brain, rather than one or more substantial concepts. It  was coined by a researcher at the University…

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Column: Widen your circle of friends

Widen that circle and you`ll be happier A couple of things I read recently has stayed with me. One is an Eli Shafak quote which goes  like this: humans think they know with certainty where their being ends and someone else`s starts. With their roots tangled and caught up underground, linked to fungi and bacteria,…

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Column: On the Sanitisation of Well-loved Books

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater I recently watched Roger Waters, former Pink Floyd songwriter and bassist, the man who wrote the most scathing lyrics that shone a spotlight on war, violence, twisted men and women, twisted politics,  defending himself against charges of anti-Semitism. After I intently searched Waters` monologue  for any signs of…

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Column: Deadlines and a Couple of Cappuccinos, Please

Coffeeshop chronicles: How WFC works for some, not all Soon  after WFH became the ante-Covid and post-Covid norm, WFC — Working from Cafes — got  its moment in the sun. WFC always had its devotees who had been quietly slipping into the nearest café, there to set up their notebooks, laptops and smartphones, order a…

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Column: Love makes the world go round? Says who? 

Love makes the world go round? Says who?   So here`s the thing. Despite the edgy love stories Malayalam cinema regularly puts out (anyone seen Mammooty`s Peranbu,  where he settles down with a transwoman at the end?), despite the love songs our singers soulfully sing, the truth is that many people in Kerala are stuck in…

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Book review: Table for One by Sumaa Tekur

TABLE FOR ONE by Sumaa Tekur. Hay House. The tagline for this book reads: a solo living manual for the curious Indian woman. As manuals go, it is direct, (very) helpful and packed with information a woman about to live solo could parse to her benefit. The one outstanding quality of Tekur`s writing is her…

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Guest column: Sin City Blues, Bangalore through Kerala`s eyes

Sin City Blues Bangalore is home for me, and for upwards of 10 lakh Malayalis. Now, I don`t know about the other Malayalis in the city but it took me a while to realise just what Bangalore  stood for in my home state of  Kerala. The multiple mentions the city receives in multiple Malayalam films …

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Guest column: A day in the life

A day in the life of a troll Morning: Woke up at 11 am, totally exhausted. Busy night, sending short, pithy missives to various offenders across the country. So okay, the tweets were all off a set format but let me tell you, it still calls for some effort to key the message out and…

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Guest column: Trust, faith and the coronavirus

The gullible and the cunning, a dangerous cocktail There`s a 2008 song by the ironically named Killers that rather cryptically asks: are we human or are we dancer? I`d like to tweak those words and ask: are we gullible or are we cunning? Well, do look at the evidence I put before you. One idiot…

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Guest column: A Tale of Four Cities

A tale of four cities A quartet of places that   showcases  the best of human resilience. Drubovnik. Plitvice. Budapest. Prague. Places I visited a few months before the pandemic swept over the world and effectively locked us down. While I was rubber-necking as hard as any other tourist, taking in the stunning sights  and  tucking…

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