Features - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Feature: When BFFs Break Up

Heartbreak comes in pink, too I don’t want to sound like I’m writing the sequel to Men are from Mars…. but let’s take the masculine parallel first. When two men move back and away from what seemed to be a convivial friendship, for reasons best known only to the two, and about which they will…

Feature: Khadi Goes Haute

Khadi in the limelight Humble? Coarse? Beige? Not any more. Reincarnated in gossamer-fine, supple and coloured avatars, India’s freedom fabric is having a fashion moment all over again. Danish textile designer Bess Nielsen’s store in Paris is named after it. It has made it to the Star Wars films. Designer Christina Kim’s haute label Dosa stocks it….

Feature: How We Gave Ourselves A Food Upgrade

Even as haute cuisine deliberately downgrades itself, are diners willy-nilly undergoing an upgrade? The movement has all the subtlety and finesse of a glacier melting. Everything has happened at pretty much the same time. Lalitha, give or take a ‘ji,’ now finds a wide gamut of ready-to-eat, hatke packaged meals on the store shelves. Kitchens transmogrify…

Feature: At The Chef`s Table

Compliments of the Chef The Chef’s Table concept comes as a boon to those who want to dine well without breaking the bank. Caperberry, Bangalore The world of diners is divided into two. The first lot, the adventurous, head to a select restaurant, scan the menu with the intense concentration of a lawyer reading fine…

Feature: The Women`s List

The Women`s List The blessings list, the wish list… Sheila Kumar rounds up the small things, the big things, all the things that give us glee, give us an attack of the wistful sighs! 30 Things Gals Have Going For Them • Sexy lingerie •Embroidered juttis • Levis 501 jeans • A white shirt • The…

Feature: Blood Relations Play Review

Into the mind of a murderess WCC’s presentation of Sharon Pollock’s “Blood Relations” was a successful attempt at serious theatre. Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one. What can one say about a woman who took a hatchet…

Feature: Indian Kitchens Go from Hot to Haute

Kitchen: Hot to haute Well, let’s face it: it never is going to be a glam room. Not even if you perch a mini television atop the pinewood and glass cupboard. Or a sleek boombox in yonder corner, nestled amongst the fronds of bamboo bonsai. Not even (don’t ask) if the room is well, roomy…

Feature: The Olive Oil Explosion

A dash of virgin, ji? A flacon of olive oil is beginning to look very much at home next to the haldi and dhania containers. Its debut into desi kitchens was so subtle, one almost missed it. Some years ago, I chanced upon huge canisters of olive oil stacked neatly alongside storage tins in a Coonoor-based friend’s pantry….

Feature: You Are Your Closet!

You are your closet! Let`s sift the cottons from the chiffons and help you get your sartorial act together. You are your closet. It’s true, we swear to it. A closet is a form of philosophy, a world in its essence. The act of selecting your clothes, accessories and your look, calls for a Zen-like…

Feature: Clothes Maketh The Woman

Clothes maketh the woman Always be well dressed. Grunge is no longer in. Here, Sheila Kumar reprises some of your mama’s favourite sayings and some she wouldn’t dream of saying! Let me tell you a secret: The well dressed man or woman scores over the take-me-as-I-am person. Each and every time. Clothes really do make…