Comfortably Numb - Page 3 of 83 - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles

My Wednesday review of this week is going to be a most enthusiastic one. Just finished reading IKIGAI, The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles (Penguin UK Books), and I totally recommend everyone has a go at this. It`s a neat but not dumbed down simplification of…

Feature: As light as air

As light as air The origin story of my soufflé-making is now lost in the mists of time. However, I will admit that it had a lot to do with the fact that, after a string of epic fails with everyday lunches, I turned to baking under the impression that baked dinners would make for…

Guest column: Patriarchy in the land of matriarchy

Patriarchy in the land of matriarchy Even as Kerala tops the list on the human development, literacy, low infant mortality, high life expectancy indices, it remains at par if not worse than other states in one respect: the disrespect of women. The empowerment of Malayali women has been slowly eroding over the years, and this…

Travel: Castlerigg Stone Circle in England`s Lake District

Circle of enigma The stone circle at Castlerigg in England`s Lake District is believed to be the earliest of its kind in all Europe. Last night, I dreamt I went to Castlerigg again. These, of course, are the wistful dreams engendered by the times we are living in, but Castlerigg is one place I really…

Feature: The Sonora Jha Interview

`Tenderness and empathy are the pillars of feminism for boys` Professor of journalism, writer, activist Sonora Jha `s latest book How to Raise a Feminist Son is a lived experience manifesto, a brave meld of the personal and the political. Every chapter parses the complexities of feminism, the weight of traditional tropes, gender binaries in films…

Book review: Writing the City, edited by Stuti Khanna

Depicted as experienced This slim volume contains literary essays that artfully entwine the perfectly compatible strands of travel and personal memoir to good effect. A list of known names write about the cities they have situated their works in, the cities of their imagination versus the reality, the cities that strike a creative chord in…

Guest column: Trust, faith and the coronavirus

The gullible and the cunning, a dangerous cocktail There`s a 2008 song by the ironically named Killers that rather cryptically asks: are we human or are we dancer? I`d like to tweak those words and ask: are we gullible or are we cunning? Well, do look at the evidence I put before you. One idiot…

Feature: The Kdrama Fashion Reveals

Men in greatcoats and women in ruffles: Kdrama reveals So, let me plunge those of you who aren’t really too conversant with Korean dramas straight into the deep end. Be warned, this deep dive into the hallyu (wave, referring to the tsunami-strength popularity enjoyed by Kdramas) will involve some startling adjustments of your hitherto held…

Book review: Noise by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, Cass R. Sunstein

NOISE, A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman/Olivier Sibony/Cass R. Sunstein, HarperCollins Publishers. This is a very interesting study of bad judgement, which places its basic root cause, noise, under the microscope and examines it for its components, sources, influence. And then tells us how to dial down the noise for maximum positive impact…

Guest column: The grim and the whimsical

The grim and the whimsical exist side by side today To misquote Dickens, it certainly is the worst of times and not so much the best of times. The seemingly interminable banks of dark clouds haven’t drifted off yet, they continue to darken our skies and our lives. Anxiety levels are still peaking, optimism is…