Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Travel: Bekal, Kerala

Romance in Stone Considering the 300-year old fort with its ramparts looking out at the by turns becalmed and furiously lashing sea, was occupied in succession by the Vijaynagar kings, Tipu Sultan and the rulers of the Raj, its origins are anything but romantic. The Mani Ratnam connect However, Tipu and Co are long…

Travel: Wayanad, Kerala

This excerpt ran in Outlook Getaways LAKKIDI Tarzan Territory Whatever was Outlook Traveller thinking of, sending a Mallu into the rainforests during the rains? Well, it was inspired thinking. It proved that Kerala still holds some surprises up her green sleeves that can get under the skin of even beauty-hardened denizens of…

Travel: Coonoor, The Nilgiris

This extract is from Outlook Getaways. COONOOR In the shade of Dodda Betta By Sheila Kumar While just about every hamlet in the Blue Mountains vies for the title of ‘Queen of the Nilgiris’, mist-wrapped Coonoor in season, when the emerald green of the tea bushes is sharply offset by blood-red poinsettia, purple morning glory…

Feature: Blood Relations Play Review

Into the mind of a murderess WCC’s presentation of Sharon Pollock’s “Blood Relations” was a successful attempt at serious theatre. Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one. What can one say about a woman who took a hatchet…

Book review: Gray Wolves by John Balian

Against all odds A roman á clef about triumphing in troubled times. Dr. John D Balian’s running-close-to-the-bone story is definitely a fable for our modern times, that perseverance, a refusal to give in to the most adverse circumstances will eventually lead one to one’s destination. Hanna/Jonah Ibelin, born to a poor Armenian farmer in Anatolia,…

Feature: Indian Kitchens Go from Hot to Haute

Kitchen: Hot to haute Well, let’s face it: it never is going to be a glam room. Not even if you perch a mini television atop the pinewood and glass cupboard. Or a sleek boombox in yonder corner, nestled amongst the fronds of bamboo bonsai. Not even (don’t ask) if the room is well, roomy…

Feature: The Olive Oil Explosion

A dash of virgin, ji? A flacon of olive oil is beginning to look very much at home next to the haldi and dhania containers. Its debut into desi kitchens was so subtle, one almost missed it. Some years ago, I chanced upon huge canisters of olive oil stacked neatly alongside storage tins in a Coonoor-based friend’s pantry….

Humour: On book launches

Oh, the book launch! Does anyone remember those wine and cheese evenings of another age, usually thrown by the fashion designer du jour at a five or seven-star hotel? The lights blazed down from Murano chandeliers, you sipped indifferent wine masquerading as full-blooded Shiraz, you nibbled cheese lumps juxtaposed with strange veggies, you made meaningless…

Feature: You Are Your Closet!

You are your closet! Let`s sift the cottons from the chiffons and help you get your sartorial act together. You are your closet. It’s true, we swear to it. A closet is a form of philosophy, a world in its essence. The act of selecting your clothes, accessories and your look, calls for a Zen-like…

Feature: Clothes Maketh The Woman

Clothes maketh the woman Always be well dressed. Grunge is no longer in. Here, Sheila Kumar reprises some of your mama’s favourite sayings and some she wouldn’t dream of saying! Let me tell you a secret: The well dressed man or woman scores over the take-me-as-I-am person. Each and every time. Clothes really do make…