Feature - Comfortably Numb

Feature: Women in the Army

Women…they excel in the army too! As of 2004, the figures show that there are about 600 women in the Army, 420 in the Air Force and about 100 in the Navy. INCREASINGLY, WOMEN are viewing the armed forces as a good career choice. The attractions are varied. It could be that they have father,…

Feature: Ilaiyaraaja, Profiled

Melody`s Raaja : Ilaiyaraaja Following a six-year hiatus, Ilaiyaraaja is composing for Hindi films again. And as Sheila Kumar discovers, the 63 year-old would rather let his music do the talking. If you’ve forgotten how love, the sensual languor of it, feels like, listen to the music of Cheeni Kam. Three of the four song…

Feature: Arundhati Rao and her Ranga Shankara

`Shankar would be proud of me“ There is an apocryphal tale of a journalist going to interview Sean Connery just after the actor had doffed the 007 hat. The journo had been told to avoid all mention of James Bond. And, of course, the first thing he asks Connery is: “How are you, Mr Bond?”…

Feature: Anil Kumble, The Comeback Kid

Kumble, the Comeback Kid Flashback, fall 2000. Anil Radhakrishna Kumble, test spinner, record-breaker (who can forget that perfect 10?), pin-up for women who wouldn`t know a googly from a leg-break, Mr Really Nice Guy, had it all. And then, while playing in Sharjah in October 2000, an Act of God happened. Kumble hurt his shoulder….

Feature: The Jerry Pinto Interview

‘One per cent writing and 99 per cent rewriting’ Jerry Pinto speaks to SHEILA KUMAR about craft and the catharsis involved in telling the story of a mentally ill mother. Jerry Pinto is a writer who explores all the avenues of writing that open before him. His resume includes teaching mathematics and journalism, writing television scripts,…

Feature: The Silence of the Bangalorean

The (selective) silence of the Bangalorean The uglification of Bangalore seems well and complete. Our individual and collective silence has done us in. As with all such pieces, I open with a set of bulleted incidents that happened in the heart of Bangalore. Bangalore, mind you, not Bengaluru, because the focus of this article is…

Feature: Friendships that fade away

Those fading friendships Even BFFs grow apart, the physical or emotional distance resulting in a split. There is always the olive branch… provided you need one. Let’s begin with a true story. Shylaja and Hajira had been best friends, closerthanthis from the time they both went to the same primary school. They saw each…

Feature: Weber : Licensed to grill!

Licensed to grill! When Manu Chandra cooks, the world (happily) eats. And now it transpires that when Manu Chandra talks, the world eagerly listens. And so it was that Weber Grills hit upon a brilliant idea: of having this uber-chef tell people all about the finer points of grilling. Which was how people gathered at…

Feature: Privacy in a Marriage: Walking That Thin Line

Marriage: Walking that thin line If marriage is a sacred bond between two people, then just how much of it should leak into what can be termed the public space? Stripped of its inessentials, marriage really is a relationship between two people. They choose each other as life partners; vow to see each other through…

Feature: Go Get A New Face!

Go get a new face! In an extension of the look good, feel good, reap good philosophy, young men and women are going under the plastic surgeon’s knife quite heedlessly. One almost wishes this could be dismissed as some crazy one-off fad. But it isn’t. Reports from at least two of India’s metros, Mumbai and…