My latest book is The One Who Swam With The Fishes.

"A mesmerizing account of the well-known story of Matsyagandha ... and her transformation from fisherman’s daughter to Satyavati, Santanu’s royal consort and the Mother/Progenitor of the Kuru clan." - Hindustan Times

"Themes of fate, morality and power overlay a subtle and essential feminism to make this lyrical book a must-read. If this is Madhavan’s first book in the Girls from the Mahabharata series, there is much to look forward to in the months to come." - Open Magazine

"A gleeful dollop of Blytonian magic ... Reddy Madhavan is also able to tackle some fairly sensitive subjects such as identity, the love of and karmic ties with parents, adoption, the first sexual encounter, loneliness, and my favourite, feminist rage." - Scroll



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23 September 2004

The Return Of The Native

My friend Devyani arrives tonight, from Bath. Originally I was supposed to go receive her with another friend, Nitya, but it turns out that Nitya prefers to go in her own car from her office in Gurgaon (outside Delhi), which is too far away for me to make it from work in Connaught Place (central Delhi) so I told her to carry on without me and wrote an apologetic email to Devyani instead. I doubt she got the email, because she didn't reply instantly as she normally does.

Devyani is a brilliant person. She's smart, reads the right stuff, can have convincing points of arguments and is the most terribly insecure person in the entire world. Devyani uses appearances to make judgements about herself (I know we all do to an extent) so she's terribly intimidated by pretty 'popular' people (I just love the alliteration in that line! *sings* Pretty, popular people, where dooooooooo they all come from? Pretty popular people, where doooooooo they all belong?) So anyone who wears say clothes that look that they have been bought from upmarket places, or who is a little brittle in the way they talk are prime suspects.

We've been friends for what? six years? now, all the way from the eleventh grade, when she did a little reverse snobbery thing on me when I attempted to make friends, because my skirt was the same length as the 'in-crowd'. (This is just a guess). She continued to be snotty for quite some time, and I didn't understand it. I was in a new school which was huge compared to my old one, to top it all off, we had moved from our lovely government bungalow in the heart of Delhi to a poky flat way over across the river where I had no friends and at the time, no prospect of a social life. She on the other hand, had been living in my new neighbourhood forever, had been going to my new school forever and I saw no reason why she should be unfriendly.

Nitya, who also lives nearby, was very friendly though. She had lived in my old neighbourhood as well, so we already had an icebreaker. She belonged to one of the popular cliques at school (I was 'adopted' by another, but left because I could not stand another day of talking about make-up and Oh my god, he is so hot!) and since she and Devyani were neighbours, they were also friends.

So, obviously, Devyani was threatened by this friendship (she explained to me later that since I was 'hep' Nitya saw more in me than she did in her), and being threatened wasn't very friendly. But I (with my usual wit and charm *ahem*) soon wore her down. I do that a lot. There are so many people who make snap judgements about you based on some stupid prejudice (take my college gang for instance), and it's up to you to make them change their minds (Or not, as in the case of Dee's colleague who called me 'arrogant'. Arrogant! I ask you, when you barely know someone and still say hello with a smile to them, does that really make you arrogant? *fumes for a bit*)

Soon, we struck up a warm carmaraderie (Aargh, yes, I know that's spelt wrong but I can't be bothered to check the right one) and an unlikely trio with Nitya. Nitya liked to roll her eyes at our "absolutely juvenile" behavious a lot, but now she knows that we're the people who are most going to be there for her. The friendship lasted after school, through college, through me fixing up one of my friends with one of hers (BAD idea. Kids, don't try this at home.) and even through her going away to England and Nitya and me getting diametrically opposite jobs, her in the corporate sector and you already know the foot-loose free-wheeling job I do!

And now she returns tonight and we will in all likelihood spend long lazy evenings smoking in her bathroom and talking.

Thank heaven for the gal pals!

EDIT: The nominees are in! Now vote for your favourites over at List Maniac, my super other blog! (this is a shameless plug. this is a shameless plug. Bless you for squinching up your eyes to read this part. Did you know a pigs orgasm lasts up to 30 minutes? Where have they been all my life?)

1 comment:

  1. BTW,did you think about reading the book I recommended? Do read it- I swear to God you need to read that book :-)
    And I completely agree with you about girlpals! They are simply the best!

    ReplyDelete

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