column - Comfortably Numb

Column: Widen your circle of friends

Widen that circle and you`ll be happier A couple of things I read recently has stayed with me. One is an Eli Shafak quote which goes like this: humans think they know with certainty where their being ends and someone else`s starts. With their roots tangled and caught up underground, linked to fungi and bacteria,…

Column: Let`s cut the ostriches some slack

Let`s cut the ostriches some slack You know the ostriches I`m talking about. The moment the topic turns to something deeper than if Dunki is a hit or if the southern part of the country is indeed having a mild winter, some people get an uncomfortable look on their faces. They shrug, they smile painfully….

Column: Do You Still Call On People?

Do you still call on people? It was a quaint custom, one handed down to us via our colonial masters, one we faithfully, happily followed. It involved people getting dressed up, not necessarily to the nines, but quite definitely in their Sunday best. They then went around to other people`s places, rang the doorbell and…

Column: Let`s reset for the journey rather than the destination

Let`s reset for the journey rather than the destination This is my ode to the paths we take to reach someplace. Let`s face it, most times it`s all about reaching rather than relishing the journey. We stride on our paths, gathering speed, sidestep what we perceive to be obstacles, and are relieved when…

Column: On the Sanitisation of Well-loved Books

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater I recently watched Roger Waters, former Pink Floyd songwriter and bassist, the man who wrote the most scathing lyrics that shone a spotlight on war, violence, twisted men and women, twisted politics, defending himself against charges of anti-Semitism. After I intently searched Waters` monologue for any signs of…

Column: Love makes the world go round? Says who?

Love makes the world go round? Says who? So here`s the thing. Despite the edgy love stories Malayalam cinema regularly puts out (anyone seen Mammooty`s Peranbu, where he settles down with a transwoman at the end?), despite the love songs our singers soulfully sing, the truth is that many people in Kerala are stuck in…

Column: Getting into all kinds of stuff

Getting into all kinds of stuff Tell me something. Is it just me or have you too noticed a recent trend where one word is freely and frequently misused? I`m talking about the word `into` used as a preposition. For far too many years, I`d been introduced at parties as my husband`s missus, who was…

Guest column: What`s in a name?

What`s in a name? What`s in a name? A lot of aspirations, apparently. Before this becomes a scattershot viewpoint, let me specify that I`m talking only about names bestowed on buildings new and old. It began in a mild benign manner. Apartment blocks of modest rise that came up beside the fast shrinking lakes of…

Guest column: Selective offerings in the time of cancel culture

The art vs the artiste: that old divide The other day, I revisited that classic, Gerald Durrell`s My Family and Other Animals, an old-gold favourite. After the read I fell into a rabbit hole of info on the Durrell family, and was dumbfounded to find that much of what I had devoured as the —…

Guest column: In praise of gratitude

Gratitude comes with side benefits now Gratitude, thankfulness, an awareness of received grace. From time immemorial, this sentiment`s virtues have been extolled far and wide. On the ground though, we all know it is but a fleeting emotion, which sweeps over us at the time of the received grace but doesn’t stay too long afterwards….