Features - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Feature: The Eloor Lending Library

Trove of Tomes The Eloor lending library’s bank of books has ensured that Chennai will never be at a loss for words of the printed kind. “If my DVD player works fine, and I have my Eloor membership, its going to be a happy old age for me,” says a scriptwriter for Tamil films, of…

Feature: Love Yourself

Agreed, we live in an unforgiving age, surrounded by examples of perfection everywhere. People with perfectly worked out bodies, perfectly intelligent minds, perfectly honed talents; the perfect fathers, mothers, spouse, siblings, offspring, friends. However, it’s time you learnt to love yourself warts and all. The truth is nobody is perfect. Nobody. Of course, there…

Feature: On Downscaling

The view from the other side Drawing from personal experience and outside advice, SHEILA KUMAR details the life of a downscaler. Downscaling is when a man or woman decides to downsize their professional life, for a variety of reasons, all hard to contemplate, harder to act on. And, surprise, surprise, downscaling happens to women…

Feature: Embrace Your Imperfections

Embrace your imperfections! Don’t berate yourself endlessly for things that don’t matter in the long run. Learn to accept your flaws and grow to like them instead. Agreed, we live in an unforgiving age, surrounded by examples of perfection everywhere. People with perfectly worked out bodies, perfectly intelligent minds, perfectly honed talents; the perfect fathers,…

Feature: Osteo Alert

Osteo alert! Asians, more particularly women, are susceptible to osteoporosis, according to research. Have you put your osteo-fighters in place? We’ve been noticing them for years, bent old men and women, with gnarled fingers and toes. People who only need to trip to break a bone or two. People who suffer from chronic joint pain. Some…

Feature: That Room Of Our Own

Virginia Woolf revisited For all the much-vaunted freedoms, Indian women are still seeking their niche. In the autumn of 1928, Virginia Woolf delivered an essay full of thought-provoking, even groundbreaking ideas underpinned with wry humour, to the students of the Girton College for Women at Oxford. It was a rambling discourse but it was by…

Feature: Pets are Fantastic Destressers

Pets keep you perpetually sorted out! Pets are the ultimate destressers. There can be no argument about the fact that pets are great company, wonderful partners in fun and grateful recipients of your affection. A lesser-known fact is that pets play a central role in the state of your wellbeing and help you keep stress…

Feature: Indiranagar re-invented

Indiranagar re-invented Yesterday’s wilderness is today’s haute haunt. A look at the area’s changing face. It happened so fast that residents of Indiranagar still haven’t had time to come to terms with what’s hit them. Some are agape with delight, others with dismay. From a sleepy tree-lined locality that attracted more…

Feature: The Bet Julian Simon Won

Doomsayers and doomslayers On the 25th anniversary of Julian Simon’s famous bet on the future of the planet, a look at the ways in which we see our tomorrow. IN August last year, Matthew Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert, laid a bet with John Tierney. Simmons predicted that oil prices will soar into the…

Feature: Tribute to a beloved dog

A pet can be an entertainer and sometimes it can also teach us life’s valuable lessons. We had a Golden Retriever called Boss for seven years — a stunner with his sandy coat, brilliant black eyes and handsome muzzle. However, it was his good humoured demeanour that set him apart from other dogs. Boss didn’t…