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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12 January 2006

Only two items on the agenda

> I find I am more suited for random posts these days than long stories. It hasn't been a long story kind of week. But on that note, I had the oddest sci-fi type dream the other day, not episodic and hard to put together like most of my dreams, but an actual story. See, Small and I were in Jaipur for some event or another, and we were befriended by this older dude, who Small thought was fantastic, but I thought was a little creepy, coz he kept feeling me up. One day, we were all sitting in this amphitheatre thing, listening to this very annoying, very young singer perform, and she was sitting a couple of rows above me. Anyway, so at this point, Jaipur was overrun with aliens, with purple and blue and green claws, and they were out to get the humans, and we all knew that they were planning to kill us, slowly, one by one. So we were trying to lie low and be quiet and everything, and this singer chick kept yapping and suddenly, out of this helicopter that was hovering above the amphitheatre, this huge claw reached down in front of her. To fuck with it, she put her hat on it, but that was a MISTAKE, which she realised once the claw shook off the hat and hooked itself into her throat, ripping out her voicebox through her mouth.


After this, was a long afternoon nap, with this Creepy Dude, who had strange breath and kept coming on to me, I told Small he was an alien, because the way to tell was that they had bad breath. Only she didn't believe me. I went with the Creepy Dude to this conference hall thing in the hotel, and everywhere I looked I saw familiar faces, only with these really glazed expressions that said they were taken over by the aliens too. I abandoned Creepy Dude and started to rush back to our room, because I realised we had to get out of there and go back to Delhi to stay alive and then I bumped into this PR chick, who was also an alien, but who thought I was too. "Come to the amphitheatre," she said, "We can go in the same cab." "Okay, but let me get my friend," I told her and started running through the hotel looking for my room, only all the room numbers had vanished, so I couldn't find it. Frantically, I made my way to the receptionist, who was also someone I knew, but there was no reciprocal recognition in her eyes. "Room 205? But that's got two humans," she said to me, and all the other humans turned aliens looked at me oddly. "Yeah, I know it's got humans," I said, "I want to kill them." They accepted that, and I ran towards our room.


Small opened the door, weeping because her boyfriend was an alien too, and she had no idea why he was acting that way. "There's no time to explain," I told her, "We have to hijack a car and drive as fast as we can to Delhi!" Only she kept bawling, and I was getting more and more frantic and then, well, I woke up, so I don't know what happened. Weird dream, huh?




> I love music quizzes. I really do. So I'm going to make one up for my blog. You have to identify the song. Ready? Here goes:


1) You say, we've got nothing in common, no common ground to start from, and we're falling apart.


2) I was lying on the grass, on Sunday morning of last week, indulging in my self-defeat.


3) If you need me, call me, no matter where you are, no matter how far.


4) Desmond has a barrell in the marketplace, Bonnie is a singer with a band


5) Miles and miles of empty space in between us, the telephone can't take the place of your smile.


6) Unbelievable sights, indescribable feelings

7) What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing, can't you tell that your tie's too wide?

8) Kinda like Nashville, with a tan

9) You don't have to put on that red light

10) I just can't believe the loveliness of loving you, I just can't believe it's true


Leave your answers in the comment section. Enjoy!

Oh, and also this is my all-time favourite quiz, if my teeny one has whetted your appetite for more.

And my cool cousin, Horse Boy has another quiz up on his blog inspired by this one, of which I only got one wrong. Starship Who? :)

27 comments:

  1. Could ID only the first one: Deep Blue Something: Breakfast At Tiffany's. It is a cover na?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love music quizzes.. :)

    1. Breakfast at Tiffany's :)) by Deep Blue Something

    2. Steal my sunshine

    3. Ain't no mountain high enough

    4. ....

    5. When I need you - Barry Manilow

    6. Whole new world (from the Aladin OST)

    7. .....

    8. .....

    9. Roxanne! :)

    10. Sugar, Sugar (this song is stuck in my head now!!) :)

    It was a fun quiz!! :)

    And speaking of dreams.. I had a totally bizarre one where I saw a friend and me being held hostage by some medeival emperor! :O

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Quiz

    1. Breakfast at Tiffany's
    2. Steal My Sunshine
    3. Ain't No Mountain High Enough
    4. Desmond has a barrel in the marketplace, Molly is a singer with a band(?) - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
    5. When I Need You
    6. A Whole New World
    7. It's Still Rock and Roll to Me
    8. Lullaby
    9. Roxanne
    10. Sugar, Sugar

    ps: i cheated for numbers 2 and 8. but i'm not generally a bad person.
    :-P

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1st one is breakfast at tiffanys by deep blue something.
    3rd one is sung by both marvin gaye and diane ross-aint no mountain high enuf.. so not sure who is the original.
    5th is Rod stewart's have i told u lately that i love u.
    9th is Sting's Roxanne.. I just loved his concert in B'lore.
    10th is Archies i guess though iam not sure, Sugar Sugar honey honey. u are my candy gal..i guess thats how the song goes..
    The rest i dont really know ..

    ReplyDelete
  5. and oh, i didn't put the names of the bands down earlier because some of the songs have been covered by so many people that i'm mostly not sure who the original version is by. but still, here goes:

    1. Deep Blue Something
    2. Len (again, am cheating)
    3. Marvin Gaye/ Tammi Terrell (originally)
    4. The Beatles
    5. Luther Vandross (i think)
    6. Aladdin OST
    7. Billy Joel (maybe a cover version, not sure at all)
    8. Shawn Mullins (cheating. again.)
    9. The Police/ Sting
    10. Archies

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1. breakfast at tiffany's
    2. steal my sunshine
    3. ain't no mountain high
    4. obladi oblada
    5. (didn't have a clue, not a huge manilow fan)
    6. whole new world'
    7. (billy joel either)
    8. lullaby
    9. roxanne
    10. sugar sugar

    ReplyDelete
  7. ooh! this my all time fave blog!!

    1) Breakfast at tiffany's -Deep blue something
    2) Steal my sunshine - Len
    3)
    4) ob-la-di, ob-la-da - Beatles!
    5)
    6) a whole new world
    7)
    8)
    9)
    10) sugar, sugar - the archies

    hey i'm pretty bad at this
    damn.
    i'm not feelin so good now.
    bleh.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I have been reading your wonderful blog for some time now and I must say that I have begun to actually wait for your posts!
    Btw, does Desmond have a barrow or a barrel? Presumably, he has a barrow from which he sells stuff in the marketplace, eh? I always heard it as barrow.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What have you been smoking??? I want some of whatever it is!

    You were probably channeling Mr. Shyamalan or just watched too much Body Snatchers!

    Oh, and "A Whole New World" was by Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle. I think.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ok, music quiz, less giveit a shot:

    1) Breakfast at Tiffany's- Deep Blue Something

    4)Get back- Beatles

    5)When I need love (or something)- Rod Stewart

    7) Still Rock n' Roll to me- Billy Joel

    8) Lullabye- Shawn Mullins

    9) Roxanne- Police

    Er, that's not a good score, but hell, no google.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hey my colleague says you have an eclectic taste in music...

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hey!!
    I planned to start with answering your quiz, but I can see that its been covered (a lot!!). So lets see to this thing about your dream.

    1st interpretation: You are losing connection with people around you. And you feel its they who are changing. Small is the only one you can still relate too
    (kinda an obvious interpretation na?)

    2nd one: You are afraid to stand out but feel you do. And feel you must cover up the differences. As in, you so want to blend in, and not get noticed. (see that part whr the croaker chick gets clawed?? If she'd have shut up and not got noticed.... see??)

    (now for the fun one)

    3rd: Delhi has so much become home to you that all non-delhi-ites are alien.

    (still not getting that fun one to sign off with)

    4th: PR babes and the like piss you off bad coz they all think you are like them and so....

    Forget it!! There aint to be any funny stuff from me i guess :(

    ReplyDelete
  13. 1. Breakfast at Tiffany's
    2. Len
    3. Ummmm hmmmm can't remember
    4. That "Life goes on and on" song
    5. No idea
    6. Too little information, throw me a bone here.
    7. Christ I'm really dying here
    8. Ah this one I know. Shit I remember it, I just don't know what band it is, or what song. But I can hear it in my head. This is sad. It was on the radio ALL THE TIME.
    9.Easy, Roxanne. Either the Puff Daddy version or the Original Police version. Take your pick.
    10. Once again, no idea.

    ReplyDelete
  14. scary dream..
    have been drinking enough lately? :P

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello all, most of you were spot on. Quite a bunch of little Smarties, aren't you? So the answers are:

    1) Breakfast At Tiffany's, but the brilliant Matchbox 20 cover, which everyone should listen to.

    2) Steal My Sunshine by Len, a song that I love secretly, because it's SO adolescent.


    3) Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, from the awesome movie Stepmom, that STILL makes me cry. But I love that scene.

    4) (oops, teleute is right, it IS Molly is a singer with the band. And barrell or barrow? I'm not sure) But ya, Ob-la di, Ob la da by the Beatles.

    5)When I Need You, by, um, I have noooooooo idea. Sorry! But this is the song I used to sing for auditions for the Western Music Society in school. :)

    6) A Whole New World from the Alladin OST, but the bit when they sing to each other, not the end song. Brad Kane, Lea Salonga. Anyone else have a massive crush on Alladin, or was it just me?

    7) Still Rock and Roll To Me by Billy Joel. :)

    8) Ooh, ooh, Lullaby by Sean Mullins, I LOVE this song.

    9) Roxanne (and the one EVERYONE got right) by the Police.

    10) And Sugar, Sugar by the Archies.

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thank god, i used to think i was the only one with a huge crush on Aladdin. All my friends think im sick for having a crush on a children's cartoon! *blush*

    ReplyDelete
  17. -sniff- I only got the first one, which means NO, not everyone got Roxanne. I am a dumbass.

    -self flagellates-

    ReplyDelete
  18. listen to matchbox 20. ah! gimme a break. i also read your love for smashing pumpkins in some old post of yours. it is really a strange combination- crappy matchbox 20 & the classy smashing pumpkins.

    it's alright. because one's choice of music should never be questioned.

    ReplyDelete
  19. ah! and i also remember your desire to open a club which would only play rock and 'alternative'(how very hip it sounds) music.

    i hope you don't stack Sean Mullins in the jukebox. you will filter out a potential patron.

    ReplyDelete
  20. what a coincidence! i had the exact same dream last week.
    reykjaviky

    ReplyDelete
  21. and none of the idiots know breakfast at tiffany's is by the ramones...

    ReplyDelete
  22. i thought breakfast at tiffanys was by thr ramones too but i cant find anything supporting this...

    ReplyDelete
  23. Ummm, I think someone else is the idiot here. Breakfast at Tiffany's is not by the Ramones, I have scoured the internet for proof that it is by anyone but deep blue something. There is nothing to suggest that they are not the original artist. I even went so far as to contact a band that 'covered' the song. They laughed when I told him there was a rumour that the Ramones wrote the song. "Most definitely NOT a Ramones song" is what they said. They went even further to say that their cover version was poking fun at the song because it is so annoying.

    So, that's that. I wish it were by the Ramones because it would have been a much better song if it were.

    ReplyDelete

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