Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Travel: Nelliyampathy, Kerala

Beyond the cloudy mountains Where I chance upon Nelliampathy, an idyllic hill station tucked high up in a fold of the Western Ghats above Palakkad. The whole area is jaw-droppingly beautiful, even for a typical Kerala landscape. Navy ribbons of road, red-tiled houses, topography in all possible shades of green, the emerald of the trees…

Travel: Marble Rocks, Jabalpur

The white cliffs of Bedaghat The Marble Rocks (Bedaghat), just outside the mining town of Jabalpur in Central India, arguably rates alongside the Taj Mahal as one of India’s most awesome sights. It isn’t marketed as one, though and that is indeed unfortunate. I began my journey with a boat ride on the emerald waters…

Travel: Kadavu Resort, Kozhikode

Beyond the backwaters….. How much can you have of a good thing? A true blue Malayali sets out to bust the beauty myth, and fails. Whatever was Outlook Traveller doing, sending a Malayali into the Malabar hinterlands? Most ‘Mallus’ suffer from a surfeit of natural beauty and now view the backwaters, the ‘kettuvalam’ boats, and…

Travel: Kanha, MP

Into the wild Sheila Kumar goes trawling in Kipling country where she sees a magnificent tiger and much more The Kanha Tiger Reserve is not as lush as the Corbett Park. It does not have a brooding fort looming over it like in Ranthambore. However, what it does have is 940 square kilometres of bamboo…

Humour: Yes, this is English, too!

Yes, this is English, too! “In his masterpiece “Leaves of Grass”, Walt Whitman says: “The English language befriends the grand American expression….it is brawny enough and limber enough and full enough….it is the medium that shall well nigh express the inexpressible.” One wonders. One really wonders. All the more when one reads sentences that –…

Humour: Husband`s Nite

A night for the hubby The night itself was balmy, stars twinkling in the sky and a cool breeze blowing. The shamiana in the Officer’s Mess was all lit up, the army wives, dressed in dazzling finery, were lined up to receive the officers. The men walked up the drive, talking in deliberately hearty tones,…

Humour: Her Kampf

Her Kampf The great author was having a book reading. The great author looked a bit tired but clear-eyed. His wife sat by him, playing protector-comforter-guardian angel to perfection. She liked what she saw, a huge crowd hanging onto her husband’s august words. The great author started reading from his new book in his characteristic…

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…