Sheila Kumar - Comfortably Numb

Feature: The flamenco disapora

The gypsy`s India connect The Roma gypsies, who have a strong India connect, are largely reviled even as their music and dance is revered I’m sitting inside a small cave high up in a barrio (district) in the Sacromonte hills of Granada in Spain, which has willy-nilly been home to marginalised groups like the Romani…

Photo feature: Statuary in Portugal

All photographs copyrighted to Sheila Kumar. Related links: Photo feature: Statuary in Austria Photo Feature: Portals in the Angkor temples of Cambodia Photo Feature: Jaipur`s jharokas and more! Photo Feature: Kiwiland Calling!

Column: Deadlines and a Couple of Cappuccinos, Please

Coffeeshop chronicles: How WFC works for some, not all Soon after WFH became the ante-Covid and post-Covid norm, WFC — Working from Cafes — got its moment in the sun. WFC always had its devotees who had been quietly slipping into the nearest café, there to set up their notebooks, laptops and smartphones, order a…

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: Distancing? Perish the Thought!

Distancing? Perish the Thought Now here’s the thing: distancing is not only an alien concept to us Indians, it also goes against our grain. Migrants who arrived from Maharashtra by a special train follow social distancing after deboarding at Charbagh railway station during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown in Lucknow. (Photo | PTI) Now here’s…

Guest column: Millennials and their Morals

The morals of the millennial Y`know what? The millennials are doing well. Where there are millennials, there must be Baby Boomers. In fact, a congregation of Baby Boomers, shaking their head censoriously, waggling disparaging fingers, muttering sibilantly and not always below their breath. Just what is bothering all these Boomer uncles and aunties? Many things,…

Feature: Is Comfortwear All About Slouchy Elegance?

Cozycore’s Formula of Comfortwear With cozycore officially anointed as trend of the season, where does that leave the woman on the street? They tell me cozycore is having a moment now. Of course, this less-than-stylish meld of comfortwear and style has been spotted on celebs everywhere for at least three years now. Think track…

Book review: Trick by Domenico Starnone

A battle of wits A battle of wits between a grandfather and his four- year- old grandson is at the heart of the deceptively simple premise of Domenico Starnone’s latest book ‘Trick.’ Witty, observant and melancholy by turns, it is a deftly layered book, a wonderful read. One of Italy’s most accomplished writers and the…

Travel: To Sakleshpur in a camper

We are off to Sakleshpur by the Hemavati river, in a camper, all set to have much fun. Chandrakanth R, CEO of Camper Trails, gently warns us that it might be a bumpy ride to Sakleshpur. The vehicle, he points out, was made for American roads. He adds comfortingly, “We have added leaf springs…

Travel: Travel Travails

Who wants my passport? Or why anyone who wants to break the travel jinx must travel more. Put simply, something not-so-good happens on every trip I take abroad, which quickly turns the vacation into a not-so-good trip. It took a while for me to see the pattern; now I brace myself for the jinx. Circa…