Feature - Comfortably Numb

Feature: A Chance Encounter

One balmy evening by the waterside, Sheila Kumar meets a young woman from another world altogether. Kerala’s backwaters sparkled before us, washed golden in the gloaming. The river was running swift here, at Valiyaparamaba to the far north of the state. Some distance ahead lay my destination, an island hemmed thickly in with palm groves….

Feature: The End Of An Era

Far away in a hill town, strong ties help a family continue a legacy of several generations. He was a self-made man, a flinty kind of man, given more to fits of rage than much smiling. But he had foresight, lots of it. Chancing upon large tracts of untouched land in a southern corner of…

Feature: A Matter of Gifting

A matter of gifting When it comes to giving, size does not matter; what matters is affection, a large heart. For years and years now, she had been playing Lady Bountiful but in the nicest sense ever. She was the sibling settled abroad. She had always been equipped with the most generous heart possible but…

Feature: The Search for Bunter

The Search for Bunter The search began inconspicuously enough. Some years ago, I was at this party in Coonoor and the talk turned to books and further, to the books of our childhood. Someone said, ‘’My favourite books were the Billy Bunter series by Frank Richards,’’ and I heartily agreed. The books were a riot,…

Books: Is India Reading?

The book still rules Harry Potter notwithstanding, it’s been a parade of pretenders: the television, the Net, cineplexes, video games. Has this blitzkrieg killed the love of books in us? Sheila Kumar does a reconnoitre of the situation and brings in a clear verdict. Is India reading? What a no-brainer question, right? Of course India…

Feature: Walking on the clifftop

All in the mind Walking on the ridge of a windswept cliff, you suddenly get to see more of a cliffhanger way of life. It is a bleak day, a blue day…

Feature: When Army Wives Start to Throw their Weight Around

When wives put on the pips Even as the Armed Forces are in urgent need of restructuring — facing a shortage of good officers, and with a corresponding mountain of grievances piling up — one more arrow in the flank of this great institution is that of ‘senior wives’ throwing their weight about. To tell…

Feature: Unbelief in the Time of Fanatism

Unbelief In The Times Of Fanaticism As terrorism stalks the streets cloaked in religious sentiment, SHEILA KUMAR finds comfort in her unbelief. This is not an easy piece to write; it never is easy, coming out of the closet. However, September 11 happened to NYC and the ripples were felt all over the world. After…

Feature: Missing Sister

I can close my eyes and see her now. Bright sparkling eyes, a mop of black curls cropped close to her head, the widest grin ever, a body perennially poised for action, digging into the endless banana splits that were a staple food for her at the Lakeview ice-cream joint on MG Road. She was…

Feature: The Refugee

The Refugee Conditioned as I was by city mores, I tried not to stare. But she was truly beautiful, dirty pheran and dishevelled hair notwithstanding….