Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Feature: Are Herbal Cosmetics Really and Truly Natural?

Really and truly natural? Cosmetics that proclaim they are herbal and natural could well do with a closer look. Oh, I’m not throwing the baby out with the bath water, I’m not tarring all natural cosmetics with a brush of suspicion. I am myself an enthusiastic user of both botanical and chemical-based cosmetics. And one…

Humour: Chasing Kajol

Note: This was before Ajay Devgn dropped the `a` in his surname. Chasing Kajol It happened when I was living in the Nilgiris. I got a call from the local correspondent for a national daily. “Ajay Devgan and Kajol are setting up camp for a shoot in Ooty,” he said. I was working for Femina,…

Humour: Jungle Tales

Jungle Tales What people call a forest resort, SHEILA KUMAR calls home. And it’s not always roseate dawns and birdsong, she reports wryly. Okay, let me play fair. I started out mentioning roseate dawns and birdsong…I get both, in plenty. The twilight zones here are something Van Gogh and Gaugin would have loved: dramatic washes…

Feature: The End Of An Era

Far away in a hill town, strong ties help a family continue a legacy of several generations. He was a self-made man, a flinty kind of man, given more to fits of rage than much smiling. But he had foresight, lots of it. Chancing upon large tracts of untouched land in a southern corner of…

Feature: A Matter of Gifting

A matter of gifting When it comes to giving, size does not matter; what matters is affection, a large heart. For years and years now, she had been playing Lady Bountiful but in the nicest sense ever. She was the sibling settled abroad. She had always been equipped with the most generous heart possible but…

Humour: Moving pictures

Moving pictures! Watching a film in a small-town theatre is a larger-than-life experience as Sheila Kumar discovers Denizens of Bangalore, rejoice. Rejoice that when you go to catch the latest Arnie or Keanu-as-Neo hijinks on the big screen, it’s just another evening out. One replete with convivial company, honey-glazed popcorn, a cola if you are…

Travel: Florence, Italy

Tricks of the eye In Florence, what you see may not be what you get. In fact, Florence had pulled a number on me but I’m not complaining. The city lay spread out at my feet, looking more than a trifle dull in the mid-morning haze. I am on Piazzale Michelangelo, atop a hill on…

Travel: To Oxford, Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon

A drive out to Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and Bath. A driving trip is a great way to see places. You’re in control of the vehicle and pace. You decide what to see, when to see it, when and where to stop. And, when driving in England, almost everything is stacked in your favour: great motorways, clear…

Feature: The Search for Bunter

The Search for Bunter The search began inconspicuously enough. Some years ago, I was at this party in Coonoor and the talk turned to books and further, to the books of our childhood. Someone said, ‘’My favourite books were the Billy Bunter series by Frank Richards,’’ and I heartily agreed. The books were a riot,…

Books: Is India Reading?

The book still rules Harry Potter notwithstanding, it’s been a parade of pretenders: the television, the Net, cineplexes, video games. Has this blitzkrieg killed the love of books in us? Sheila Kumar does a reconnoitre of the situation and brings in a clear verdict. Is India reading? What a no-brainer question, right? Of course India…