Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Butter by Asako Yuzuki

Meditations on murders Asako Yuzuki was inspired by the sensational real-life case of the `Konkatsu Killer` when she wrote up this study of a suspected killer, of the possible motive behind the killings if killings they were, and of several things that ail Japanese society in modern times, spreading disaffection and maybe violence, too. Manako…

Column: When enough is enough

Enough, already! Let`s play a quick word game. I`ll throw a word at you, and you make the necessary associations. The word, used as a noun, is: enough. In response, I hear you say: ordinary. Limited. Average, tepid. No more, no less. My turn now. And I`m saying: equanimity. Balance, liberation. Happiness. I`m saying we…

Book review: Rosarita by Anita Desai

A journey within, a journey without The story opens on a cracker of a note. Our protagonist, Bonita, is sitting on a park bench in San Miguel, Mexico, absorbed in her own thoughts. She is approached by Victoria, a dramatically dressed Mexican woman of a certain age, who insists she must be the artist Rosarita`s…

Book review: The Hive and the Honey by Paul Yoon

Tales of the Korean diaspora A sense of sadness, loss and regret runs through the seven stories in this collection which grapple with the themes of identity, belonging and escape, and casts a light on the experiences of the Korean diaspora. We see their lives play out not only in different parts of the world…

Book review: The Long Strider by Dom Moraes and Sarayu Srivatsa

In the adventurer`s footsteps The late poet and novelist Dom Moraes was apparently much taken with the account of the adventures of a man named Thomas Coryate of Odcombe village in Somerset, an enthusiastic trekker known in those parts as the Long Strider. Coryate took a long walk from England to Jehangir`s court in India,…

Book review: The Cobra`s Gaze by Stephen Alter

Where the wild things are This is such an important work, a masterclass in ecological awareness for those of us who would read, absorb, learn. In an intense effort to show us the missing link between animals, birds and humans, how we perceive other species through our umwelt or sensory bubble, project human expectations on…

Travel: The tigers of Tadoba

Tadoba`s family tigers Tiger-spotting is serious business at the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve. On any given evening, as the visitor is about to dig into dinner after a long day of morning and evening safaris, eavesdropping becomes a fun sport. “Raka`s back,” announces one tiger-spotter, a satisfied smile hovering about his mouth. “He`s a…

Book review: Bitter Gourd, poems by Anupama Raju

The skewering gaze In Anupama Raju`s second book of poems Bitter Gourd, she puts the everyday with all its attendant activities and emotions, under keen scrutiny, and what emerges is another angle to the quotidian. Some lines spin soft yet strong visual images, like the ones that go: …each time you call me mol I`m…

Book review: Knife by Salman Rushdie

A deconstruction of events The book`s tagline reads: meditations after an attempted murder. Which is as startling as it is dramatic. The text, though, is largely a matter-of-fact chronological record of events. While not entirely leached of emotions – this is Salman Rushdie, after all – there isn’t any maudlin self-pity in the narrative. When…

Book review: The Book of Bullah by Manjul Bajaj

THE BOOK OF BULLAH, A Selection of Verses by Manjul Bajaj. Amaryllis Books. Sometimes it all comes together in a beautiful manner, as it has in this book: Bulleh Shah`s mellifluous verses rendered equally mellifluously in English by Manjul Bajaj, accompanied by some striking illustrations all sticking to the specific theme of footsteps, by Danette…