QUEEN OF TREASURES

With all of us hunched over our laptops and less physical movement, our joints and muscles go for a toss. The eyes water and the muscles are weak, leading to the need for glasses. Here’s how you can say goodbye to glasses. What is the main cause of aches and pains? The aches and stiffness tend to make it difficult to have a normal day. Every joint in the human body is built for a specific…

Among the most renowned global thinkers, Amitav Ghosh is an award-winning author whose complex narrative revolves around discovering the identity of the people and their environment, especially focussed on India and South Asia. His new book is based on the history of opium and how it shaped the lives of the people in China and India under the British regime. I must begin with the confession that…

Wellness is more than a need for a healthy body; it is the art of living a harmonious and happy life. There are many dimensions of wellness—I kindled my wellness journey with spiritual practices The concept of wellness might have gained popularity in the recent decades but the rishis and yogis had already brought wellness to the sub-continent centuries ago. They knew that a calm mind, healthy…

A pacy love story for firebrands, who don’t seek order amidst chaos, simply because they thrive in chaos You are never too old to read romantic novels, I firmly believe in this. Romance has the ability to charm you out of your banal surroundings. The Ex Factor is not the compelling romance that Mills & Boon dishes out, it is chick lit on home soil. It takes us into the world of social…

Kaizen or the art of improvement is a Japanese concept floated by Masaaki Imai. The easy principles can be applied in any area of life: social, working, home or personal. In the early days of my career, I edited a magazine related to management and soft skill practices with focus on training and development. While the subject area was all corporate, it helped me gain insights into being a…

Far from the world of Bollywood’s unreal, commercial romances, Mansoor Khan travels through time and space to talk about ecological destruction and evolution in a philosophical yet contemporary manner. The master of storytelling remains true to his art—his unique approach to climate crisis, environmental degradation, ignorance, greed forces us to put on our thinking cap and question our…

In 2021, I was approached by the Anatomy of Action, a United Nation Environment Programme initiative, to be a part of the challenge that promotes the well-being of this planet we call home. I am sharing all that I learned during this challenge and two years later, these lessons are habits The Anatomy of Action (AoA) activates people to contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG 12) on…

A ghost that haunts his own manor, five deaths and no one can find the motive Crime fiction has been called a difficult genre. After reading some contemporary crime thrillers by young authors, I have begun to understand why. The focus has shifted from narrative and research to script writing and visual appeal. This is what you find in The Zamindar’s Ghost as well. It is a quick read with little…

With Kalba on the route of migratory raptors, the region in Sharjah is home to some endangered species. A stay in an island resort here is just the way to get close to Nature “Let’s just say that I love wildlife, birds and animals more than human beings,” smiles Jerry. He takes care of the Birds of Prey Centre in Kalba, a city in the UAE. Hailing from the UK, he has been around a few countries…

“The easy road is always crowded. The path less travelled is where you’ll find your true self.” Bard In all my life plans, a career was not even listed. Life’s only purpose was to study and get married. Yes, it does sound archaic, but that’s the way it was. For anything to come to its logical conclusion, your beliefs and life’s path have to be aligned. Mine weren’t. Reading and Writing Improve…

A sizzling chemistry that brings together solemn Aditya Khamankar and glam babe Vaani Jaishankar An experienced author captures the reader in the opening para, and Shilpa Suraj does that with Flawed. The first book in the ‘Disgrace’ series, Flawed is a contemporary romance that follows the hot love story of Aditya and Vaani in old-school Hyderabad. They say opposites attract, and that’s what…

From cloud to ground, from drizzle to torrent, poets and artists have romanticized rain. I have seen the joyful and light faces of rain. I also witnessed the dark face of rain in 2014, when the low-lying areas of Kashmir were devastated by flood My trip to Kashmir in September 2014 had come after two and a half decades. I was super excited. The slight rain started as I reached Srinagar and…

The second book of the Jasmine Villa series, citing the star-crossed love of Ana Hasan and Luqman Ahmed, has many ‘OMG’ moments Andaleeb Wajid’s book transported me to my teenage years. Those were the days of binge reading Mills & Boons, twisted situations in which handsome, daring men and coy women came together thanks to their sizzling chemistry and left us walking on the clouds, hand-in-hand…

Arefa Tehsin’s novel will make you contemplate and scrutinise your social milieu. No brouhaha, no shouts, the murder in one of Udaipur’s prominent Muslim families in a newly independent India becomes the pivot for showcasing the many moments and ideologies that make up the social fabric of life This is no ordinary book. It’s more than a murder mystery, even though the book opens with death,…

Exploring Chilika is like flying off into space—the vast shores and endless horizon hide a multitude of mysteries. With the magnificent Eastern Ghats in the backdrop, a boat ride here in any part of the lake is a mesmerizing affair, as the sky and water melt into each other. Chilika Lake. Odisha, is the largest brackish water lagoon in Asia. Covering an area of over 1,165 sq. km, it is home to…