Comfortably Numb - Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Feature: On Downscaling

The view from the other side Drawing from personal experience and outside advice, SHEILA KUMAR details the life of a downscaler. Downscaling is when a man or woman decides to downsize their professional life, for a variety of reasons, all hard to contemplate, harder to act on. And, surprise, surprise, downscaling happens to women…

Travel: Stresa, Italy

Sojourn in Stresa Discover a delightful resort town by the splendid Lake Maggiore. Every corner I turn affords me yet another glimpse of the lovely lake, brisk moisture-laden winds playing on its surface. I AM looking at a landscape in blue. In fact, I am in a landscape of blue, the blue used by Tiepolo…

Feature: Embrace Your Imperfections

Embrace your imperfections! Don’t berate yourself endlessly for things that don’t matter in the long run. Learn to accept your flaws and grow to like them instead. Agreed, we live in an unforgiving age, surrounded by examples of perfection everywhere. People with perfectly worked out bodies, perfectly intelligent minds, perfectly honed talents; the perfect fathers,…

Feature: Osteo Alert

Osteo alert! Asians, more particularly women, are susceptible to osteoporosis, according to research. Have you put your osteo-fighters in place? We’ve been noticing them for years, bent old men and women, with gnarled fingers and toes. People who only need to trip to break a bone or two. People who suffer from chronic joint pain. Some…

Travel: Down the Chao Phraya river in Thailand

Online edition of India’s National Newspaper Saturday, Aug 05, 2006 Metro Plus Mangalore Cruising alongside a culture Gliding down the Chao Phraya provides an exotic view of of the many facets of Thai life The river, erstwhile Siam’s bloodline, is unrecognisable by night. In the uncompromising light of day, the water runs a muddy…

Travel: Singapore`s Botanical Gardens

In search of the baobab Chasing a childhood chimera, Sheila Kumar walks through Singapore’s beautiful Botanical Gardens I blame it all on Antoine de St Exupery and his “The Little Prince.” Ever since I read that classic, I’ve been wanting to see a baobab tree. And when someone I met at Singapore’s Tony Tanglin Club…

Humour: What do women want?

What do women want? Back in the old days, it used to be far easier. The relationship between the sexes was one-dimensional, contained no surprises. Men were men, macho, less than refined, not in the least sensitive and more than a bit chauvinistic. Women, well, always the resigned lot, they just put up with things,…

Feature: That Room Of Our Own

Virginia Woolf revisited For all the much-vaunted freedoms, Indian women are still seeking their niche. In the autumn of 1928, Virginia Woolf delivered an essay full of thought-provoking, even groundbreaking ideas underpinned with wry humour, to the students of the Girton College for Women at Oxford. It was a rambling discourse but it was by…

Feature: Pets are Fantastic Destressers

Pets keep you perpetually sorted out! Pets are the ultimate destressers. There can be no argument about the fact that pets are great company, wonderful partners in fun and grateful recipients of your affection. A lesser-known fact is that pets play a central role in the state of your wellbeing and help you keep stress…

Travel: The journey back home

The journey back home When a professional assignment turned personal Photo: Anil Kumar Ezhuthachan/Palakkad Trails. As assignments went, it was a fairly routine one. I was doing the area map-makers termed South Malabar, comprising Palakkad, Guruvayoor, Trichur and thereabouts, for a travel book. The idea at HQ was to send people to cover areas they…