Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Feature: BB Creams

The cream behind many a dream The BB cream promises to be many things in one tube. What’s more, it seems to deliver too, as users swear by it. Let`s take a close look at this wonder cosmetic. Oh, it’s a good life for women. First there was foundation. Then there was make- up base,…

Feature: Monkey Bar Restaurant Review

LIVING IN THE KITCHEN Good food served at a pub? Why not? The concept of a gastropub is fast catching on. I am probably outing Bangalore’s newest secret: a neat mix of good, unpretentious food, innovative cocktails, mocktails, and some fabulous old-fashioned rock and retro music at Monkey Bar, India’s first gastropub. In that order….

Travel: Khajuraho, all sexed up

All `saxed’ up A woman tourist goes unescorted to Khajuraho and gets a whole new perspective on the place THE guide’s voice is leer-laden, hissy. “Want to see a sax,” he asks me, insistently. I stare at him and contemplate replying, “No thanks, I’ve been rocked enough.” That would have been the god-given truth,…

Feature: The `Mazing Macaron

The cult cookie First, a question. Is it macaron or macaroon? We need to tweak that old Shakespearean saying here: confectionary by any other spelling just does not taste the same. But more on that later. Macarons have been around for a while but when cupcakes began their run on fame, the former retired to…

Travel: la Rambla, Barcelona

Rambling down La Rambla If Barcelona is an amazing city, la Rambla is its very heartbeat. It is hard to be in Barcelona and not be slack-jawed. There is so much life, living, and vibrant splendour all around. In ways small and large, Spain’s vital port city stands as a tribute to beauty. The blood-red…

Feature: The Deepika Govind Interview

‘A fabric for all seasons…’ Bengaluru’s Deepika Govind, who continues to stretch her job definition from designer to protector of ancient textiles and weaving methods, talks about her experiment with Eri silk. What inspired the Eri journey? I feel I have finally found my true calling with Eri. The collection enables me to work upon…

Travel: Vellore Fort

Jewel in the city of spears One of the things that hold endless fascination for me is the way life weaves itself around fort towns. For good or bad, dwellings, shops, a bustling marketplace, temples,all spring up around the mammoth granite walls of what hitherto was a place of war. Bells ring from temple courtyards…

Travel: Chartres, France

Catatonic in Chartres The beauty of the ancient cathedral as well as losing her wallet rendered SHEILA KUMAR utterly speechless in Chartres. OK, first things first. The shrine is all it claims to be. The oldest and most beautiful cathedral in Europe, say the guidebooks. On this chilly, late autumn morning, it stands in…

Feature: Litany, A Poem

Litany Don’t. Don’t dislodge that face veil, that head covering. Don’t sit with your thighs apart. Don’t refuse to open those thighs for him. Don’t let your eyes dance. Don’t let your voice lilt. Don’t lock gazes. With anyone. Don’t forget to cover your mouth when you laugh. Oh, and don’t smile so much. Don’t…

Travel: Hampi, Karnataka

Going around Hampi is a practice session in rock climbing —but the intricate and expansive work around is totally worth the effort. So, there we were, bowling along a fairly good road, on a day that had yet to switch from merely warm to sweltering. We were off to immerse ourselves in…