Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: The Gypsy Goddess by Meena Kandasamy

A carnage recalled Reading about the worst Dalit massacre in TN back in 1968, the reader recognises with a shock that neither people nor times change much. Poet-activist Meena Kandasamy’s first novel, The Gypsy Goddess, is a rambunctious read. Now, this is an odd way to talk of a book that is a retelling of…

Humour: Book? Launched!

Book? Launched! In which an unsuspecting writer goes to launch a book and comes away the wiser for it My mother’s neighbour’s son wrote a book. He found a publisher and now it was time for the launch. I was asked if I would please ‘do the needful’. My mother being very fond of his…

Feature: The Das Sreedharan Interview

‘Food is god to me’ In conversation with London-based chef, restaurateur and inveterate rice-lover, Das Sreedharan. Das Sreedharan went to London to study accountancy, but ended up opening the Rasa chain of restaurants and making his mark in global cuisine. Sreedharan, who appears frequently on British television, is the author of four popular cookbooks and…

Feature: The Art of Coping

Cope strategies to manage stress When life throws lemons at us, we are told to make lemonade. For some of us, that lemonade turns out quite sweet. The secret is a functional coping strategy. The sink or swim analogy is the most apt one in life. Staying alive, surviving, is all about learning how to…

The Wellness Column: Make the Halfway Mark Count

Get those resolutions back! Before we know it, we are well in June and half of 2014 has already passed. We started the year with a host of good resolutions; many probably have fallen by the wayside. Well, no matter, we can still get back on track. What we need is the conviction that those…

The Wellness Column: Common Sense Does the Job!

Common sense does the job! You don’t need to consult a doctor/nutritionist/wellness coach all the time; sometimes, daily doses of common sense works wonders. Here’s a list of must-knows and must-dos for a healthy lifestyle. Eating right Drink coffee. Yes, you read that right; coffee’s link to heart disease has been debunked over and over…

The Wellness Column: Wash It Right

Wash it right! How often and how thoroughly you wash your hair shows in your crowning glory. Most of us dunk our head under water, scrunch some shampoo into our hair, wash it off with just as much water we think we need, and we are done. This is actually, the wrong way to wash one’s…

The Wellness Column: The Fear of Failure

Facing the fear of failure Tripping and not getting up still remains our core fear. We have grown up on a steady diet of Fail Tales. Consider all the adages: Failure is the stepping stone to success. Fail, fail and then succeed. We are all failures — at least, the best of us are. Failure is…

Book review: A Strange Kind of Paradise by Sam Miller

A Foreign View One peculiar idiosyncrasy of this reviewer is to read the Acknowledgements page first. In A Strange Kind of Paradise, Sam Miller has an ‘Apologies and Acknowledgements’ page, wherein he apologises to fans of many real-life as well as fictional Indians, and there is mention of Padma and Parvati Patil, last met in…

The Wellness Column: Sniffles in the Sun

Sniffles in the sun Summer colds can really ruin fun in the sun. Here’s how to handle the sniffles that hit between May and October. I’m back and still on the subject of summer. This time it’s the tale of summer colds, one of the occupational hazards of enjoying days of bright sunshine. For years,…