Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: The Outsiders by Devi Yesodharan

Looking out, looking in The migrant experience is explored through the perspective of two outsiders, in this book. One is a teacher from Kerala who comes to Dubai in the 1990s scouting better prospects. The other is a sailor who reaches the fabled lost port of Muziris in 213 CE. Both these stories deal with…

Feature: Theyyam: of the people, for the people

Dancing with fire and spirits The human aspects of the mystic ritual are fascinating, heartwarming It`s still dark at 4.20 am and the crowds are slowly building. The atmosphere is akin to a carnival, underpinned by stalls selling plastic toys and hard-boiled eggs. Friends are greeting each other, enquiring after Shantechi, and why Jibin hasn’t…

For the Love of Apricots by Madhulika Liddle

Love in the orchard Madhulika Liddle, cross-genre writer, creator of the splendid gumshoe of Mughal times, Muzzafar Jang, as well as of the ongoing Delhi Quartet series, goes off on an unexpected but sweet tangent with this book, a romance set in the Uttarakhand foothills. Why apricots, specifically? Liddle tells us that according to Armenian…

Opinion: A manifesto for manifesting things

Long before it became a big thing on TikTok and other socials, the art of manifesting was much beloved of life coaches across the world. Over a decade ago, a close friend would keep urging me to close my eyes and manifest whatever it was that I needed `the universe to do,` assuring me it…

Book review: Too Good To Be True by Prajakta Koli

Much ado about nothing Prajakta Koli aka MostlySane, wears many hats and apparently wears them adroitly: she is an uber-popular digital content creator/actor/fierce advocate for social causes. And now that she has written her debut fiction, a rom-com titled Too Good to be True, you can hear the cheering from fans loud and clear. The…

Photo feature: Seascapes in north Kerala

All photographs by and copyrighted to SHEILA KUMAR.

Opinion: A brief meditation on grief

Grief is a many-splendoured thing With all that`s happening around us – war, genocide, displacement, disease – this is as good a time as any to talk about the nature of grief and grieving. Grief, say clinical psychologists, is a universal emotion, a natural response to loss. It hits us in small and big waves,…

Book review: Of Mothers and Other Perishables

The nature of loss and grief Much like the young girl in Alice Sebold’s book ‘The Lovely Bones’ who observes her family after she passes, the mother in this book does the same. On her untimely death, she leaves behind her husband and two daughters, yet she is very much around, an unseen, unfelt presence….

Book review: Mad about Cuba by Ullekh NP

Notes from contemporary Cuba The only thing quirky about this book is the title. In actual fact, Mad about Cuba is a compact report from the field. The tagline informs you that the author is a Malayali revisiting the revolution. And the first pic on the front jacket is one familiar to most Malayalis: that…

Book review: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver, Faber Books. I came late to the winner of last year`s Women`s Prize for Fiction and co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. But migawd, I just devoured the book, all 548 pages of the contemporised retelling of Dickens` tale of institutionalised poverty and its impact on children, David…