Features - Comfortably Numb

Feature: The Dangers of Detoxing

The dangers of detoxing Relentless fasting, fad dieting and colonic irrigation…not all of it is very good news. Detoxing has, for some years now, been the mantra for just about anything to do with the human body and mind; the way to a better skin, lustrous tresses, shining eyes, and of course and a calm…

Feature: Jaipur Lit Fest Sidelights

Jaipur Literature Festival: Can you repeat the answer, please? One quick question. Who was the rock star of the LitFest? ‘Twas Vikram Seth. Behaving like a distracted, sometimes dithering Oxford don, he launched on chatty monologues, read poetry in truly divine fashion, had the audience at ‘hello.’ Then he took one look at the snaking…

Feature: The Anonymous Woman

She’s the best, now and forever Her looks are deceptive. She always looks calm and collected, and content. If not happy, well then, not unhappy, either. This look, it has come from long years of practice, of perfecting the art of being the still center of all the gathering storms. And apart from practice making…

Feature: The Shefalee Vasudev Interview

‘I’m a chronicler, not a groupie’ Shefalee Vasudev’s Powder Room is an honest look at the gloss and the dross in the fashion industry. She talks about why she chose to take the lid off the glamour. Journalist Shefalee Vasudev came to her first book via stints with Cosmopolitan,The Asian Age, anchoring and scripting a Hindi…

Feature: Shinie Antony`s Novels

Weaving strong narrative threads Shinie Antony’s recent releases both deal with bold subjects, vulnerability being the leitmotif in one of them. Exactly three years after her debut novella, Barefoot and Pregnant, we find author Shinie Antony pretty much where we left her last: balanced on the cusp of ordered chaos, taking in all of life’s…

Feature: Are You A Smart Shopper?

Are you a smart shopper? Scoring great stuff at all the sales is only part of the deal. Spending well, and wisely, makes the deal a super one. Sheila Kumar points the way down Shop Street. It’s Sales Time in the city and we are trying our best not to lose our heads, right? We…

Feature: Is Sexual Freedom just a Myth?

Is sexual freedom just a beautiful myth? The Oxford Dictionary refers to sexuality as sexual practice, sexual preference. Sexuality is also an emotion, the condition of being sensual, a way in which we view our bodies. And here’s the truth: all the kaanta lagas of yesterday, the Rakhee Sawants of today, don’t change the fact…

Feature: Memories of Another Bangalore

Have we lost more than we’ve gained? It was a balmy night. Up on the floodlit stage at the Kanteerava Stadium, Biddu Appaiah (he hadn’t dropped his surname then) was belting out some good hard rock. The crowds were giddy with delight, and we were part of that singing, dancing crowd. When the show was…

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…