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

9 July 2008

And it was never quite the same again...

We almost missed our train. If it was left to BB and me, we'd still be sitting at Just Around The Corner, smoking our cigarettes and talking about how we should really leave Bombay soon. Ira was the Travel Nazi, the one who got the tickets done, who made sure we were at the station on time, who switched bunks with the person in the same bogey so we could all be in the same line. Although, I'm sure the whole train was really happy when we got off. We were loud, not just noisy, but LOUD loud, and giggly and we kept talking to each other the entire time. When the lights went off, I swear I heard everyone breathe a sigh of relief.


Our coach number was B3, which I saw as fortituous. B3 as in Babes Three. What a great name for our first all-girls holiday. Well, kinda cheesy, but in our excitement and psuedo-road-trip movie mood we were ready to agree to everything. Seriously, the entire trip felt like we were in a movie. There was this one point where we were waiting for a bus (coz we took buses!) at a closed bar called Moonlight which was small and painted yellow and blue, and we had our bags piled up near us and our shades and our bathing suits on under our clothes and we weren't talking much, just passing the cigarette back and forth and then a bus came by and I stuck out my hand and yelled, "Taxi! No, wait, I mean.. BUS!" which the other two found hilarious and getting on it, all seriously very Darjeeling Limited. Or Dil Chahta Hai minus random foreign girls stealing our money.

Oh wait! There WAS a random foreign girl! Sunday night after an evening that has unfortunately been lost from memory (twelve tequila shots, one not-so-large person, it's a wonder I'm still alive and talking to you) we went to sing cheesy angry lesbian karaoke at St Anthony's, a beach shack in Baga. When I say "we" I really mean me, because the other two kept volunteering my name to sing things to "liven things up". Everyone else was taking it all very seriously and doing all these senti, sappy numbers and I got up there and rocked I will survive and Lean on me and Like A Prayer. (Tolja, angry lesbian). We were sitting behind a group of three foreigners--a guy and two women and one of the women turned around and asked whether they could join us. "Sure!" we said, being friendly people and they pulled up chairs and then it was revealed that one of them was a Swedish Goddess. No, seriously. She was absolutely stunning, the kind of beauty you can't look directly at, so we kept sneaking peeks and every time she made eye contact, we'd look away. The other girl was a lot more fun, the boy was clearly into the Goddess, but the Goddess was quiet and let us revel in her beauty. By the time we got back to our hotel, we had full blown girl crushes, enough to make us wake up at 7 am so we could meet them for breakfast the next morning. And the next morning? Well, she didn't look so much like a Goddess anymore. The illusion that candlelight and a roaring sea can create went away. We had sort of developed a crush on all three of them, and I guess they had on us as well, because our disillusionment was palpable. Then they went their separate ways (ostensibly to shower and change and we got bored of waiting so we left.)

I wish I could tell you more about the Twelve Tequila Shot Night, but really, the last thing I remember is projectile red vomit that I totally had no control over. We tried to piece together the rest of the evening, which included walking about three kilometers to another club, coming back to our resort, me being tucked into bed while the other two continued and some very strange bruises. Oh, and several THOUSAND drunk dials to JC. (Which I think is endearing, but I'm pretty sure he thought was annoying. Still, it means I MUST be in love, eh? Who woulda thunk?) Actually it was rather nice having someone to miss and having someone miss me AND he spent the night before I was due to come back at mine so I got to see him at five in the morning. And there were roses. Red and pink. Say it with me, ladies: awwwwwwwwwwwwww. (I had some clean clothes left and the bathroom is outside my room so I managed to smell and look less gross and train-journey-ey before I opened my door.)

Anyway, we're back now, planning more trips (I still can't say the word 'tequila' without feeling ill. I'm saying The Alcohol That Shall Not Be Named) We have Girl Pacts (duh, this WAS a road trip movie about three friends finding themselves etc) and we rocked Goa off-season. Pretty damn good, I'd say.

27 comments:

  1. How you find these karaoke bars wherever you go... In all my life I've never come across one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was one hell of a road-trip, I guess!
    I'm a long time reader and at last, am a first time comment(at?)or here.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i'm gonna stop reading this blog. this post did it. thanks for all the fish!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Always had a feed.

    The thrill is going... almost gone....
    Surprised to see that the dead-man-walking too had a similar opinion.

    Sandeep.

    ReplyDelete
  5. In February I had gone to Goa and had drunk dialed girl I had thing for then. We should start a club babe :D Hug

    ReplyDelete
  6. Can we have a movie made out of your trip.. Im sure most of the guys would watch for one look of the goddess

    ReplyDelete
  7. heh, you sure they didn't run away with the dough?

    And to Anu... not every desi guy likes blondes. Infact, most don't. Really.

    ReplyDelete
  8. eM! along with roaring sea, u forgot to mention beer goggles...everybody looks gorgeous when ur drunk.......that may explain why the goddess looked all divine when u were drunk and not so divine when u sobered up....

    ReplyDelete
  9. Also, this post, specially the "Just Around the Corner" reminds me of Arundhati Roy.....cant wait for your book to come out. I hope it's available in Canada!

    ReplyDelete
  10. If u add up one more person.,quorum would be CHAAR....call as Chaar-Lees(pored from Bin) Angels....????

    ReplyDelete
  11. For once wish you would post some pics... way to go Goa... done several of these all- girlie ones... now have a 6-mnth old... and a hubby of course:)..but i can sooo feel the (your ) madness!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Welcome back, PartyQueen. And this is a reminder.

    ReplyDelete
  13. wuz wundren whr eM disappeared all dese dayz.. nw i knw whr she went!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow, how many times have I told you I'm jealous of your life?? Not enough, I guess. I'd luuuuuuuurve to be on an all-girls holiday! And drunk like that! And a new-ish boyfriend waiting for me at home with flowers so that I can go all 'awwwwwww'... Oh, I come to your blog to realise all that I want to do!

    ReplyDelete
  15. was it raining in goa? and wasn't everything shut this time of the year? i was planning a trip and thought everythign would be closed and it would be wet and rainy and do canned the idea.... tell tell

    ReplyDelete
  16. smell and look less gross... couldn't stop laughing on that :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. aargh... drunk dialling. one helluva patient guy he seems to be, this JC character

    ReplyDelete
  18. Your blog's reason enough to move back to the middle ages. Damn this flux capacitor.

    ReplyDelete
  19. hehehehehe....u always drink eM?why dnt u stop drinkin? ;D

    ReplyDelete
  20. Oye fluffhead, what is so angry lesbian about Lean On Me / I Will Survive? Last I checked, these were shunned-hetero-girl staples. It's not like you were up there screaming along to Le Tigre or The Gossip dude. And what's the deal with "angry lesbian" anyway - are you going to continue to perpetuate the scrotum devouring identity lesbian identity that the media insists on commercialising? As an ex-angry lesbian and current penis lover, I take sincere exception to your spurious representation of said stereotype!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Awesome experience it looks like! You girls rocked!

    Twelve Tequila shots? Wow... I admire you for still being able to remember the next day events.. :)

    This post made me feel all wishful about having one girl's trip out myself.. :)

    First time here.. came here thru IdeaSmithy!

    ReplyDelete
  22. All-right.. I was reading your blog posts for a real long time and I found myself ended up reading on same things over-n-over again..

    Do u like to write totally on sex, dating and using offensive language?

    ReplyDelete

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