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



Sign up for my newsletter: The Internet Personified

7 March 2008

Gotta love Thursday randomness

Oh for fuck's sake. It was a little ol' interview, which the interviewer assured me would be "harmless" and as far as the transalated version I heard about, it WAS pretty damn harmless. But, for the final time, I'm not from Kerela, my dad is. I'm not from Andhra Pradesh, my mom is. I'm from Delhi, yeah? That's the only city that can lay claim to who I am and what I do. So, I'm sorry that my anscestors and yours came from the same place, I don't!

Phew. Now that we've got THAT out of the way, what's up? I've been easing up (very slightly) on the socialising, so I have no hectic party stories for you. One amusing encounter with some Russians who were in town doing a documentary on Bollywood, and I went on about how I ALWAYS wanted to visit Moscow and he (the only English speaker in the group) said that any time I was there I could look him up and so on. I love meeting people from other countries and extracting invitations like that from them. And poor things, they have no choice, do they? It's been a pretty international couple of weeks too and now I have similar options almost all over Europe and some parts of North America. Now to find me someone from Japan.

The fourth date has been followed by a fifth and sixth and I suppose I should blog about him at some point but you guys know that as SOON as I blog about someone, BAM, three posts down, they're history. Let us get past the dreaded one month mark and I'll tell you all.

I've been thinking a lot about getting a hobby. Seriously, I have nothing to do. Work and party, work and party, man, there's got to be more. See, writing used to be my hobby, but I don't think you can call something your hobby if you're making money out of it. I'm thinking something that involves a level of physical skill like pottery or bartending or baking or something. Except all these things cost quite a bit of money and I may suck at them. I could dredge out my old sketch pad and charcoal pencils (bet you didn't know I used to do that, eh?) but meh, I was only average at those things. Besides, I don't think I need yet another solitary activity. Maybe I'll join the gym. Get rid of some of that vodka weight and actually do something, but see, the IDEA of gymming is always so much more appealing than the exercise. Pilates? Something? Anyone know of a relatively low cost but fun hobby I could do? Otherwise, I'll have to resort to singing again and the world does not want that.

And (since this is such a random post) my favourite songs to sing at karaoke night (Monday's at Soul Fry! Fun!) are Like A Prayer, I Will Survive and Bohemian Rhapsody. I'm such a chick. So if you see someone with out of control hair (damn you humidity!) warbling into a mic and grasping at a drink with her other hand, it's probably me.

A more structured post next time, I promise. I have two all planned out. Don't go anywhere.

48 comments:

  1. to be frank, this is the first time i'm seeing such a bold interpretation of a metro life. awesome blog..all the best and a long way to go...

    ReplyDelete
  2. surya thats great product placement, thats how i get my happydent at the shop counter, but i love the concept behind aranmula mirror, no mirror-has-two-faces moment, i wonder what alice would have to say to that, or even eM for that matter. i hate interviews i'll never be famous.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooh you've sung Bohemian Rhapsody at karaoke? I did that too (with a friend) and got booed - but it was such fun!

    ReplyDelete
  4. How's the non-smoking comin' up?

    ReplyDelete
  5. DBMC Delhi born mallu confused..
    This is Em at her silly best.

    and mine below

    Silly lilly wants to telly
    She will pick her genny

    silly lilly went for a shocky
    its me daughter of dilli

    poor mallu maddy papa for lilly
    yell yell i'm her daddy

    Lilly gently told him truly
    mallu men dirty and pagli

    Lilly added Im daughter of dilli
    and dilli men not balti

    Wise man said smiling naughty
    But Dilli dont fuck for creativity

    Oh poor girl lilly ..oh sweety
    genny carry lot of ancestry

    Oh poor lilly .. oh fooly
    and you are picked by genny

    * Genny - Genes and chromosomes

    -- Naveen, another DBM ..but not confused

    ReplyDelete
  6. We aren't going anywhere eM and waiting for the sequel. :) - have been on a reading spree lately, visited a site called blogadda and found so many blogs from there! BTW, your's wasn't.

    Weren't you supposed to write a book? Is that still on?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Spotted a spelling mistake :D Shan't rat though.

    Hobby ideas? You could do yoga... or take up the guitar... heck, salsa or belly dancing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. had you not been the daughter of one of their most beloved writer,I doubt, mallu's wouldn't have shown this much interest on you.

    Your father has written some of the best stories ever written in India.So obviously kerlala would be curious on
    you.And even if you denounce your kerala link,we won't.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I pitty the way u interpretted ur orgin. Be proud to be Keralite

    TAKING OUT WITHOUT KEEPING BACK SOON REACHES BOTTOM
    U are draining ur brain If u continue this way with life it will reach bottom in no time

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hey eM...The problem with an interview with Vanitha is that it could get interpreted asclaiming your Kerala links...Mainly because that is what the magazine tries to do...Personally, I was very disappointed at seeing the interview...somehow they portrayed you in a different light from what I thought of you in the blog...and I like your blog!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. :)... well!!! that interview in Vanitha is bringing in a lot mal bloggers to here... huh???

    even i thought tht u were a mallu till i came here...


    evn am sumbody who writes, jus b'cos i love to do it...

    keep going :)

    -Tess

    ReplyDelete
  12. Forget the entire argument for bullshit morality. You are just simply annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Well ! I'll be damned. I wanted to put in a comment. But never figured out that this was the comments link. Needn't say that I am getting old.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Got this blog id from an old issue(maybe not that old) of Vanitha .. or was it Grihalakshmy? Well some Malayalam magazine which my husband was reading in the toilet. Read the whole page, and about that hate mail you got also.. I checked on the comments first.. Saw that many were trying to comfort you by saying you are pretty and criticising that guy who had sent you that mail.. But you never bother about it, right? You know what you are and who you are.. So I am not going to pat you on your back and say, dont worry baby, it will be all right!

    Good writing.. keep it up.. A hobby can pay you too.. But then it will become a Jobby rather than a hoby, right? ;)

    Go through my blog when you have time too.. Am not a serious writer, nor am I that open.. Still, I have started to crawl, and dont know what I might do when I start to run...
    Good luck in your life.. I like your style of writing..

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow, the comments are *painful*.

    Maybe a comment-spellcheck tool will do fabulously. I hope Blogger is listening.

    My sympathies, eM, assuming the mallus here are a fraction and not the best representative of the majority community. Big ouch!

    ReplyDelete
  16. i started reading ur blog after the NDTV talk show..on the initial few read i kind of liked the way u looked at life..a carefree attitude. the one i find very difficult to do myself..

    over a few more reads..n i start doubting my instincts..r u really cool..or r u trying to be someone else..if not I need to seriously learn from u..

    i dont expect to get an reply..but atleast hope u dont ridicule:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hello..Mallu Guys..wht u wnts?..tell...y u pepole irritating her..ur Life or UR SON/DAUGHTER life wud be so..dont tease..If any child born in ur FAMILY u wil regre...WAIT AND SEE...Better way suicide urself with family....Vanitha interviw?,,wht f*** magazins there...If u believe to snetece a life through ur F*** words.... U R WORLD JOKERS and FOOLS..

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hey miss eM ,

    Another mallu here.. came to ur blog via Vanitha.. well as someone said, it has interpreted u in a wrong way ..( well not horribly though in some ways )..

    Mee too pity you on ur intro of ur native place.. be it kerala or AP, well ur mom n dad are from those places, so its ur 'native' place.. No need blabbering around that u are a delhi-ite.. it ain't matter u nor us..

    u've always said u are writing wat seemed to attract your interests... y ain't try posting some articles going on around u which doesnt involve u... (hobby !)

    enough of this self-revelation and blogging about ur frnz and crap.. its gettin BORING...

    Rohit

    ReplyDelete
  19. hey i totally identify with you and your "where i'm from" opinion. I'm tamilian, but i've lived in bombay almost all my life. Now i'm working in Chennai and people can't imagine why I don't speak tamil as fluently as the poet Bharathiar. Don't get me wrong. I am not ashamed to be tamilian, in fact i'm quite proud of that fact. But the reality is that I am a bombayite before anything else, and always will be.

    ReplyDelete
  20. u need to be pimping another song, now that you are not single... mazzy star is not uplifting enough, don't you think?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hmmm...was just going through ur comments!there was the "nativity issue" that was quite frequently discussed!dunno y ppl get so pissed off...I loved the way you have interpreted ur nativity...home is where u r born and brought up...just coz ur parents are from some place that doesnt mean or require u to decide that the particular region is ur native! all that is just crap!i was born abroad so i still feel quite like an alien when i am in this part of the world!friends in this part of the world has so much things which they relate their childhood to...for me everything about my childhood is way across the seas!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Keralite? Delhi-ite? What happened to plain Indian?
    And how does it matter anyway, you fucking trolls, if you don't like her and her views, why the hell are you on her page?

    Moronicity in the morning is so damn annoying.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Gone baby gone

    Why don’t you write poetry beta like the rest? Here’s some nonsense for those, who are bananas and look Chinese or something. Pity my blog is phoof and gone. I actually remember this poem from school. We did some kind of a ritual for this poem waving our arms in the air and grinning ear to ear like you know what. Here is some gibberish .it doesnt matter if i loose ur thread or something .i can always make it all up later.meanwhile enjoy poetry

    On the ning nang nong,
    Where the cows go bong,
    And the monkeys all say boo,

    There’s a nong nang ning,
    Where the trees go ping,
    the teapots jibber- jabber joo

    There’s a nong ning nang
    Where the mice go clang
    And you just can’t catch
    them when they well do.

    So it’s ning nang nong,
    Cows go bong,
    Nong nang ning ,
    Trees go ping ,
    Nong ning nang ,
    Mice go clang
    What a noisy family to belong is
    Ning ,nang ,ning, nong, nong.

    ReplyDelete
  24. eh!! woteva....
    and well.. be glad dat u can lay claim to delhi... der r some who can lay claim to quite a few.. adn den none at all... wer do they belong??

    ReplyDelete
  25. hi
    i am a mallu.But haven't read the vanitha interview....i guess that you have never been to kerala or with your relatives in kerala.I think if your opinion will change if you do so...........You are a bold writer........You shouldn't have revealed your identity and real name ..bcoz people in india are very sensitive and they become crazy fighting for moral values before applying them to their own life.

    ReplyDelete
  26. hey, i totally know where you come from. both my parents are mal but i'm a bangalore girl through & through.

    ignore them. they'll go away eventually.

    a hobby... roller skating? it's tons of fun, after initial investment on skates, all you need is an open road... and it's a great work-out. kylie minogue uses it to tone her butt & thighs... :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. excercise is not a hobby, it's a need.
    and what's a-13 saying?
    and yeah, my parents are manglore descendants, but me, I'm from bombay.
    and you're a delhiite. not andhrite, not from kerAla. So screw all else.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Ok Em ,

    We get it , you are not a mallu .

    We also unserstand that you are frustrated with the type of reaction you had from kerala , and hence want to close that chapter .

    But listen eM, whether you like it or not , keralites read a lot , they love your fathers books (he is a great writer afterall) , and hence are looking in to your works .It is difficult to get a place in keralites heart , they do not generally accept all f all people .

    So why dont you take all this easy , understand that with every hate mail and comment you get , you are getting famous , your writing is getting discussed among one of the most educated communties in the country , be proud of it .

    And , i say it again , whether you like it or not , there are a few mallus who like you (rather your writings ) and who consider you as a mallu , and as a talented daughter of a talented father .

    Cheers
    Pheno Menon

    ReplyDelete
  29. Madam to tell u frankly i like ur style of writig but at times its a little too boring when u mention abt ur friends circle andi am getting confused like who is who and whats happening around

    why are u getting irritated when people consider u as mal? one shudn't be ashamed of his or her own identity.That happens with u bcoz u consider urself as a hep chick from delhi.me too from delhi and is surrounded by lot many ladies who smokes.they themselves has admitted that none of them actually enjoys smoking but the girl who smokes is considered as KEWL in college and in the friends circle and that is the reason why they all smokes.


    tamanna

    ReplyDelete
  30. Oh God ya eM just disable comments and post more often... well said, Arthur Quiller Couch

    ReplyDelete
  31. I agree... going out everyday can be very tiring... in my case as I grow older I just NEED the sleep to deal with my alcohol weariness.
    Try movies on DVD... they might work.

    ReplyDelete
  32. eM ,

    one hell'va blog.... absolutely fantastic scripting( be it language or style or fluency or frankness or anything)
    well we all know you are a journalist ( atleast some f us know) and this blog is like too famous now....
    juz one ques : how long will u go on writing about ur frnz n peopl surrounding u n urself.. why not put up some entries about local or national or international events and show that 'fuck off, I ain't care " attitude in the description of those.. coz u know there are so many readers who are eager to hear more from ur pen..(keyboard! )

    Rajesh

    ReplyDelete
  33. just FYI Kerala is spelt KerAla, KerEla is somewhere between Kerala and a bitter-grourd.

    ReplyDelete
  34. ohho...is it like being rootless???
    (as proclaim ownself not from kerala or denying)
    its becoming interesting!!

    ReplyDelete
  35. Hobby ideas:
    1) Making paper/jute bags to replace the polythene in the world.
    2) Glass Painting. You don't have to be an artist to do this. Anything looks good with a silver foil background.
    3) Martial Arts. Good for the mind, even greater for the body. And no one will mess with you ever (unless you want them to).
    4) Visit the Byculla zoo and count the number of trees there.
    5) Read bedtime stories to the kids at an orphanage.
    6) Take to the kitchen. Conjure your own cuisine. Experiment.
    7) Matchmaking. It's fun and interesting to design a match.
    8) Aim to finish reading 1000 books by the end of this year.
    9) Focus on a poet, Sylvia Plath or someone, and write a play on her.
    10) Write anonymous letters to Ekta Kapoor, criticising the crap she puts up on air.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Read about your blog in “ Vanitha.”
    I was curious and also interested especially because you are the daughter of NS Madhavan who has written some very good stories in his earlier days...You were even being compared to Arundathi Roy and Madhavikutty.
    I tried to read many of your old blogs and also the controversial ones..
    If your objective was only to write about your bohemian life style there was no need for all this fanfare. Apparently it was much more than that and I am sure the interviews, appearance on TV, contract for your autobiography..all these did not happen spontaneously. You have also not tried to cover up your eagerness to gain popularity in your blogs – be it for visitors to your site or appearance on TV or other media. Congratulations to the ambitious girl who is willing to go to any extent to reach her goals.
    Though you want others to believe that you are a literary genius as you mentioned in one of your blogs, have you ever thought once whether you have that talent and has any future as a writer?
    Sad to say your blogs shows only your creative poverty which you are trying to compensate by your exhibitionism ,attracting people by the salacious details. Most of your readers are just interested in more graphic details - now waiting for your write up on your first visit to a STD specialist, details on your first abortion or your continuous slide down (or is it UP?) the moral cliff.
    While you have every right to choose your own path to "eternal truth" or live life as you please, I believe your credentials as a writer should basically be linked to your writing skills and creativity.
    Though you might have started your blogs with full confidence in your skills and creative genes, when you found out you were never going to make your mark by normal means, you have chosen the way similar to many models who come to Bollywood and are not able to become a star... The exhibitionism you are doing on the blog is not a bit different from what those desperate C grade artists also do hoping to make a shortcut to stardom.
    You are able to sustain your readership only due to the expectations of curious onlookers waiting for more and more of you. The moment they know that there is nothing more to come from you, you will see your viewers vacating the theatre looking for the next "Shakeela".
    If you have read even the first paragraph of "God of small things" by Arundathi Roy or " Neermathalam pootha kaalam" by Madhavikutty, or “Higuita “ by your father you should know what you lack...

    Your parents seems to have chosen the path of "Parayi Petta Panthirukulam"- that their duty is limited to giving birth and it is for God and you to fend for yourself.... I wish they could have at least taught you the spelling of KerAla. . You don’t call your father MadhEv just because you are from Delhi…

    Wish you the best...

    Madan

    ReplyDelete
  37. Ho Madan ,

    Dude Chill .

    I perfectly understand your feelings , but stop for a second and think again .

    You expected a bit too much from a 26 year old girl , didnt you ? You did compare her with NSM or Madhavikutti . That was the problem

    See , eM's blog is cool , and not Hot . If you are looking out for a genius work , you are at a wrong place , but if you are looking out for some fun , you are at the right place .When i say fun , its not the perverted fun , but the simple good fun . Wokkay ?

    Yea , sometimes even i pity the modern girl hypocracy , but hey , who the hell am it to comment , even i have certain drawbacks , dont i ?

    So lets all sit back and make a promise to ourselves , come to this webpage if you like it , or else just effing leave ! Simple , isnt it ?

    ReplyDelete
  38. For fuck's sake. Girl gets screwed. Gets drunk. Gives some perverts a hard-on. Vanitha thinks she's important enough to be a spokesperson of Mallu womenhood. Serves them right. As far as literary merit goes, this blog is the pits. However, you write about sex and cigarettes and hope to achieve literary immortality.Crappy dumbed down world.

    --Jay.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Lol

    I have started coming back to this blog for the comments ....

    Great Going Fellow Commentors !!!

    And wat a war it is !!!

    May be the blogger is too busy to write anything new .... or atleast to reply to comments

    Em, do write or have u started another anon. blog???

    ReplyDelete
  40. Hey guys, i didnt see the magazine or the TV show... can anyone post a photo of em?

    ReplyDelete
  41. Hi

    The scanned version of the interview is in the following blog...

    http://nisaram.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_13.html

    ReplyDelete
  42. thks to Madan
    u said wht we all wants to say..

    mallu's r ashamed of her not the opposite..
    ur blog is a 3rd grade triller that's all... good luck and keep on entertaining others with ur life (before u smokes it off)

    ReplyDelete
  43. "A more structured post next time, I promise. I have two all planned out. Don't go anywhere."

    so much like the scared RJs/VJs who try hard to stop the audience from switching channels..

    or was it the jovial move considering that you could be rather secure with an ever growing loyal set of readers..

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your feedback! It'll be published once I approve it. Inflammatory/abusive comments will not be posted. Please play nice.