Features Archives - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Guest column: NRIs and the art of gifting

NRIs and the art of gifting With India having undergone a major transformation in the last three decades or so, some of our NRI brethren are a confused lot now. Even as Smart Cities came into being (inside the heads of planners, if not on the ground), even as unicorn startups sprouted alicorns aplenty, even…

Guest column: Sin City Blues, Bangalore through Kerala`s eyes

Sin City Blues Bangalore is home for me, and for upwards of 10 lakh Malayalis. Now, I don`t know about the other Malayalis in the city but it took me a while to realise just what Bangalore stood for in my home state of Kerala. The multiple mentions the city receives in multiple Malayalam films …

Opinion: Is Age Just a Number? Well, Yes and No.

Is age just a number? Well, yes and no There`s age-shaming of women on Big Boss, there`s age-shaming in the workplace, there`s age- shaming on the runway, there`s age- shaming on the streets. And given that a report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation titled `Elderly in India 2021` has put the ageing…

Guest column: The Covid fear factor

The Afraid vs the Unafraid Since the past two years, ever since the pestilence hit, society has divided itself sharply into the Afraid vs the Unafraid. One or the other invariably takes centre-stage at different times. Let`s take the first lot first. Whatever they believe, do, ingest/absorb/practice, it`s all driven by their intimations of mortality,…

Feature: Into the feminiverse, women in Kdramas

Into the feminiverse Given that most of the hit Korean dramas (Kdramas) are written by women, the feminist gaze trained on both characters and stories comes as no surprise I began to watch Kdramas just this January. Fifty-six Kdramas down, my one major takeaway is that it`s a world full of women. Sweet women, nasty…

Opinion: Confused and confounded

Confused and confounded The new year has slunk in, bringing fresh tumult and trauma in its wake. And the one prevailing emotion across the world at this moment in time is confusion. Utter, total, complete confusion. What`s more, Omicron is where the confusion buck stops. When the Covid-19 pestilence first hit us, we were undoubtedly…

Opinion: 21 Things that Got Me Good and Mad in 2021

Twenty-one things that got me good and mad in 2021 The anti-conversion Bill, with its implicit threat to religious freedoms, looking for passage in the Karnataka Assembly, on the ominous lines of similar laws passed in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Consistent spurts of vandalism in places of worship, usually of the minority…

Feature: Best Fiction of 2021

LISTICLE: BEST OF 2021 FICTION The year had its fair share of good, even very good fiction, with historical fiction gaining a slight edge over the others. These are the books that made an impression on my twin avatars of reviewer and reader. The Heart Asks Pleasure First. Karuna Ezara Parikh, in her remarkable debut…

Opinion: Is suppression of memories the best way to move on?

Is suppression of memories the best way to move on? The other day, I read an article that made me sit up startled. It was written by a neuroscientist and the topic was how to cleanse one`s mind of all past-thought baggage. To cut to the chase, this neuroscientist felt that that best way to…

Guest column: A day in the life

A day in the life of a troll Morning: Woke up at 11 am, totally exhausted. Busy night, sending short, pithy missives to various offenders across the country. So okay, the tweets were all off a set format but let me tell you, it still calls for some effort to key the message out and…