Travel - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Travel: Pamukkale, Turkey

Turkish delight I have climbed steeper hills. And on one occasion that stays in my memory, for wince-making reasons, I have climbed a gritty hill without footwear…don’t ask. And here I am, climbing the 2,700-metre-high calcite hill in Pamukkale, in Turkey’s Denizli region. So why am I so tensed, teeth gritted painfully, muscles knotted hard,…

Travel: Versailles, France

Viva Versailles! The Palace of the Sun King continues to dazzle, reports Sheila Kumar Most tourists visit Versailles with a view to upload some drama-filled history into their brains, aided by a montage of truly stunning visuals of the chateau, the palaces and the park. However, we were there for a different reason. Chasing history Being aficionados…

Travel: Verona, Italy

City of love We are in Verona, it is a sunny day and we are set to go gawp at Juliet’s house. Gulietta, daughter of the house of Capuleti, who happened to fall unsuitably in love with a certain Romeo, remember? Even as I try and call to mind lines from the play dealing with…

Travel: Paris from the River Seine

Down by the river… Sheila Kumar gets a different perspective of Paris as seen from the glinting gray waters of the Seine Tomas, all of twenty-six going on sixteen, is our guide aboard the neat little vedette, the passenger boat. It is a moot point whether Tomas is a good guide: he speaks fast and…

Travel: Nelliyampathy, Kerala

Beyond the cloudy mountains Where I chance upon Nelliampathy, an idyllic hill station tucked high up in a fold of the Western Ghats above Palakkad. The whole area is jaw-droppingly beautiful, even for a typical Kerala landscape. Navy ribbons of road, red-tiled houses, topography in all possible shades of green, the emerald of the trees…

Travel: Marble Rocks, Jabalpur

The white cliffs of Bedaghat The Marble Rocks (Bedaghat), just outside the mining town of Jabalpur in Central India, arguably rates alongside the Taj Mahal as one of India’s most awesome sights. It isn’t marketed as one, though and that is indeed unfortunate. I began my journey with a boat ride on the emerald waters…

Travel: Kadavu Resort, Kozhikode

Beyond the backwaters….. How much can you have of a good thing? A true blue Malayali sets out to bust the beauty myth, and fails. Whatever was Outlook Traveller doing, sending a Malayali into the Malabar hinterlands? Most ‘Mallus’ suffer from a surfeit of natural beauty and now view the backwaters, the ‘kettuvalam’ boats, and…

Travel: Kanha, MP

Into the wild Sheila Kumar goes trawling in Kipling country where she sees a magnificent tiger and much more The Kanha Tiger Reserve is not as lush as the Corbett Park. It does not have a brooding fort looming over it like in Ranthambore. However, what it does have is 940 square kilometres of bamboo…

Travel: Bekal, Kerala

Romance in Stone Considering the 300-year old fort with its ramparts looking out at the by turns becalmed and furiously lashing sea, was occupied in succession by the Vijaynagar kings, Tipu Sultan and the rulers of the Raj, its origins are anything but romantic. The Mani Ratnam connect However, Tipu and Co are long…

Travel: Wayanad, Kerala

This excerpt ran in Outlook Getaways LAKKIDI Tarzan Territory Whatever was Outlook Traveller thinking of, sending a Mallu into the rainforests during the rains? Well, it was inspired thinking. It proved that Kerala still holds some surprises up her green sleeves that can get under the skin of even beauty-hardened denizens of…