Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Guest column: Why are we so loud?

Why are we so loud? I recently watched a video, purportedly a spoof, where an Indian aunty adopts a hectoring tone and shows us how ginger tea is brewed back home in India. I say `back home` because the woman is standing in an American kitchen, heaping much unbridled derision on Americans. Personally,  I found…

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Guest column: In praise of gratitude

Gratitude comes with side benefits now Gratitude, thankfulness, an awareness of received grace. From time immemorial, this sentiment`s virtues have been extolled far and wide. On the ground though, we all know it is but a fleeting emotion, which sweeps over us  at the time of the received grace but doesn’t stay too long afterwards….

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Guest column: Doggone it, I say!

Stray thoughts on stray dogs In a country where casual  cruelty towards animals is woefully common,  increasing awareness about the need to look after our stray denizens is something to cheer about. However, for the purposes of what I wish to convey, I am training focus only on stray dogs here. Though not a currently…

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Guest column: Don`t Tar All Media with the Same Brush

Don`t tar all media with the same (grimy) brush  You know how people constantly, relentlessly, moan about how terrible the media is, how it exists only to spread fake news, how it polarizes people? Well, you know what? India is still a free country, last time I checked. We don’t need to consume the kind…

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Guest column: NRIs and the art of gifting

NRIs and the art of gifting With  India having undergone a major transformation in the last three decades or so, some of our NRI brethren are a confused lot now. Even as Smart Cities came into being (inside the heads of planners, if not on the ground), even as unicorn startups sprouted alicorns aplenty, even…

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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 …

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Guest column: The Covid fear factor

The Afraid vs the Unafraid Since the past two years, ever since the pestilence hit,  society has divided itself sharply into the Afraid vs the Unafraid. One or the other invariably takes centre-stage at different times. Let`s take the first lot first. Whatever they believe, do, ingest/absorb/practice, it`s all driven by their intimations of mortality,…

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Guest column: To inconvenience and be inconvenienced

To inconvenience and be inconvenienced, that`s the Indian way Some years ago I was sitting next to an Australian tourist in a coach headed to Kovalam. First, they showed a movie, with tinny sound turned up to full volume. Those of us not interested in watching the 80s movie kept silent because other passengers might…

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Guest column: Patriarchy in the land of matriarchy

Patriarchy in the land of matriarchy Even as Kerala tops the list on the human development, literacy, low infant mortality, high life expectancy indices, it remains at par if not worse than other states in one respect: the disrespect of women. The empowerment of Malayali women has been slowly eroding over the years, and this…

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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…

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