The New Sunday Express Magazine - Comfortably Numb

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…

Book review: Table for One by Sumaa Tekur

TABLE FOR ONE by Sumaa Tekur. Hay House. The tagline for this book reads: a solo living manual for the curious Indian woman. As manuals go, it is direct, (very) helpful and packed with information a woman about to live solo could parse to her benefit. The one outstanding quality of Tekur`s writing is her…

Guest column: Sin City Blues, Bangalore through Kerala`s eyes

Sin City Blues Bangalore is home for me, and for upwards of 10 lakh Malayalis. Now, I don`t know about the other Malayalis in the city but it took me a while to realise just what Bangalore stood for in my home state of Kerala. The multiple mentions the city receives in multiple Malayalam films …

Guest column: A day in the life

A day in the life of a troll Morning: Woke up at 11 am, totally exhausted. Busy night, sending short, pithy missives to various offenders across the country. So okay, the tweets were all off a set format but let me tell you, it still calls for some effort to key the message out and…

Guest column: Trust, faith and the coronavirus

The gullible and the cunning, a dangerous cocktail There`s a 2008 song by the ironically named Killers that rather cryptically asks: are we human or are we dancer? I`d like to tweak those words and ask: are we gullible or are we cunning? Well, do look at the evidence I put before you. One idiot…

Guest column: A Tale of Four Cities

A tale of four cities A quartet of places that showcases the best of human resilience. Drubovnik. Plitvice. Budapest. Prague. Places I visited a few months before the pandemic swept over the world and effectively locked us down. While I was rubber-necking as hard as any other tourist, taking in the stunning sights and tucking…

Guest column: In the end, who will we be?

In the end, who will we be? Even as the old normal returns, will we do a recalibration of our old selves? So, now is a good…

Guest column: Hikikomori or Modern-day Hermits

Pulling inwards: The modern-day hermits Hikikomori is a severe withdrawal from love, from life, from people. The concepts have come from Japan, wrapped in words, sometimes uplifting, sometimes baneful. There is Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing, an abstraction every bit as delightful as it sounds. There is Kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery by mending…

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,…