Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Fairy Tales at Fifty by Upamanyu Chatterjee

An unspooling yarn First up, a stray thought. If this were a film, it would be what is called a ‘horrex’ film, a horror plus sex admixture. Upamanyu Chatterjee approaches the heart of his story in a roundabout manner. He introduces a character whose relevance is clearly apparent but his link to Pashupati’s family less…

Book review: A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor

Well, comparisons are odious but 30 pages or so into this book, words float into your mind. Words like Svengali. Like Last Tango in Paris. Like Lolita. Like Caro Lamb and Lord Byron. Like 9½ Weeks. You get the drift. Deepti Kapoor`s heroine Idha, motherless, abandoned by her father, is a bit of a wraith: good-looking, intense, ripe for anything life or…

Feature: Women Who Bond

That silken bond Tomorrow is international women’s day. And contrary to popular misconceptions, the ladies aren’t at each other’s throats. Sheila Kumar reckons that they are enjoying each other’s company and forging close bonds. Move over old…

Feature: Only Rats Race!

Only rats race! Actually, Ruskin Bond put it best. His Love Among the Bookshelves yields this nugget: “…I have mentioned my antipathy to running races. Why bother to come first when, with less effort, you can come in last and be none the worse for it? There is no law against coming in last.” Everyone…

Book Review: Holistic Healing by Dr Issac Mathai

Body-mind-spirit connect The how-to book on living better. Dr. Issac Mathai has always passionately espoused a way of living that integrates various disciplines like naturopathy, yoga, acupuncture, hydropathy, Siddha and meditation. In this book, he deconstructs traditional therapies and intertwines several threads: those chronicling his personal journey as well as that of his holistic healing…

Book review: India in Love by Ira Trivedi

Wedding and bedding A close look at how young India is doing in suchlike matters. Don’t be thrown by the self-important title of the book. Ira Trivedi has chronicled the wooing/ wedding/ bedding patterns of India in systematic fashion and the result is a highly readable book. Even as I have to state that I’m…

Book review: The Way Things Were by Aatish Taseer

Aatish Taseer is at it again. Rooting in the past, referencing our shared history, seeking answers to painful questions of love, loss, alienation. In The Way Things Were, (Pan Macmillan) we meet Skanda, Sanskrit student, son of a Sanskrit scholar, collector of cognates, conveyor of his father`s dead body to its final resting place by the…

The New Indian Express/Bangalore Edition: Excerpt of Guru Cool from K & K

Feature: Culture Chameleons

Those Culture Chameleons! It’s official. India just won the culture war. Which culture war, you ask. Why, the one that our netas tout like some tired old mantra every chance they get: the war against westernization, against the evil influence of burgers and quesadillas, Louboutin heels and Cavalli outfits, against arguably execrable singers like Snoop Dogg and Keisha, EDM and…

Feature: The Issac Mathai/ Soukya Interview

Wholesome Healing: Back to tradition Living better should come to you as easily as breathing, says Dr. Issac Mathai who talks about his attitude to healthcare and his new book on holistic healing. The Soukya International Holistic Health Centre has, for over a dozen years now, been a classic example of how integrated holistic…