Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

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…

Feature: Crows, a love story

Crows, a love story They come together every day,…

Book review: South Haven by Hirsh Sawhney

Hirsh Sawhney`s debut novel South Haven is a quiet piece of work. You could call it a coming- of- age novel, a slice- of- life story; it tries to stay just below the radar quite like its protagonist, Siddharth Arora. But this is polished writing and will not stay hidden. Not surprising since Sawhney is…

Book review: Mrs C Remembers by Himanjali Sankar

Remembering, but not quite Himanjali Sankar`s first novel for adults, Mrs C remembers, is the story of an average Bengali woman Anita Chatterjee, part of Calcutta haut monde circles, mother to obedient son Sudeep and rebellious daughter Sohini, both who love her in unquestioning and questioning fashion. Her husband is busy climbing the ladder to…

Book review: The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy

This is more a brief take than review. Who was OBL? Savant? Monster? Sage? The horcrux of all evil? A person with illusions of grandeur trapped in the gaze of his mirror? Or maybe a man who set something in motion and watched as it took a shape of its own and rapidly mutated…

Book review: Sita, Warrior of Mithila by Amish

The sacred feminine Amish`s Sita is canny, aware, intelligent and interesting, too. I have to say this, right at the start: Amish has found his mojo again. After a terrific trilogy on Shiva (Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath of the Vayuputras), his Ram katha, Scion of Ikshvaku had…

Photo Feature: Himachal Heights

All photos by Sheila Kumar. All images are subject to copyright. Blue skies, crowded hill towns….. A glimpse of Solan between trees. The Shimla Hills, shrouded in gauzy blues. The original cottage in Jutogh cantonment near Shimla where Bishop Cotton started his school. St…

Feature: Tribute to Delilah

My, my, my Delilah… It was an Ambassador car, a stodgy vehicle, caramel in colour. It was of 1963 make and quite the pride and delight of my armyman father. I can`t quite remember when and why the Amby went in for a makeover. But makeover it was, because when she returned from…

Book review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. Penguin Books. This take, rather than a full-fledged review, is in three parts. I Just started on the book a few days ago and find my lips quirking into small smiles every few paragraphs. Smiles of recognition of people, places, situations. Smiles of amusement at the weirdly…

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…