Tom & Jerry in the background and dahi-chawaal for dinner. Yeah, this is the life they're calling 'glamourous'

Now that the launching is over, JC and I recover from a drunken Bombay book launch and an even more drunken after party by sitting in my room and working on our respective laptops. I use 'working' loosely here. Yes, I did write a column and yes, he did do a little coding type thing but mostly I've been reading The Princess Bride as an ebook and he's playing some random game where you pull the snot out of a nose and then swing it about. I will never understand boys.

The Bombay launch was excellent fun though. It seemed a smaller crowd than the Delhi one, but I looked very nice (and really, isn't that all that matters?) in a blue off-shoulder dress with a red belt and red shoes. Very Wonder Woman. And I had my hair done in long loose curls and I tossed it about all through a Star News interview in the hopes that it would distract from my horrible Hindi. (My Hindi never used to be this bad! I think a year and a half in Bombay has ruined my Delhi-perfect Hindi, and if you say it wasn't that perfect to begin with, I will track you down and bite you.)

I see somewhere in all the distraction, that the monsoon is over. How sad. I am now sweltering in track pants and a t-shirt (put on instead of short-shorts for the benefit of the dudes who came today to fix the tubelight in the bathroom. After months of being too lazy to fix it--and also having been told by the previous guy who came that we had termites! in our wiring so he'd have to do something fancy involving white wire and external lines, we've been bathing by candlelight, which is very pretty but accounts for weird unshaven patches on my legs where I haven't been able to see.)

AND wouldn't you know it? I got my period bright and early yesterday morning and so I popped a Cyclopam which made me feel all giddy and woozy and when I met an erstwhile Flatmate travelling through Bombay she said in all likelihood Cyclopam had been banned because of lead content. Lead content! I squeaked, why are they still selling it? She shrugged, her dad's a doctor so she Knows These Things. Nothing a little friendly Google search can't help me with. I found a site called Indiwo (short for Indian Women, which is just about the CRAPPIEST name I can think of for a website, and which also sounds a little like Indie Woe which means it's confusing coz I could just as well think it was a site about emo bands, you know?) According to this site, Cyclopam is the way to go. Kay. I'll just battle it out then.

I stole the huge poster from Blue Frog which had the book jacket on it and me and all sorts of pretty things. It's HUGE. I'm thinking of getting it framed but where to hang it? Also, quick Miss Manners question: is it MASSIVELY egotistical to display one's own triumphs in one's house in a prominent manner? I guess it's similar to hanging up sports trophies only in pink and blue and yellow.

In the terrible puns department:

JC: I like your knees. Normally, I don't like people's knees but I like yours.

Me: My knees? That's just about the weirdest compliment I've ever received.

JC: But you have lovely knees!

Me: Thank you. I do like a man who understands my knees.

I guess you could say I really knee-d him.

I'll stop now, promise.

Right back where we started from

Sooooo, the book is out. And free to be trampled all over by critics (although there have been a few glowing reviews which gladden my heart). It's quite a massive feeling though, having a real live book in real live bookstores, it will be odd meeting people after this who say, "Oh, what do you do?" and I'll say, "I write books." Coooooool.

The Delhi launch was everything I wanted it to be. It was at Agni, and I was wearing a white Gauri and Nayanika wraparound dress, and I had my hair done (Hobo and I spent THREE HOURS at a parlour before, just being primped. I even got a pretty pink pedicure.) and then I waltzed around kissing people hello, signing books and being followed by cameras. It was AWESOME. They had a segment where I read and then where I had to go behind the bar and pour out drinks for people and the kind people at Agni had premixed a bunch of shots with names like Brazen and Topsy-Turvy (named after a character in the book who does awesome cocktails) and some other stuff, so I just stood and poured out shots and made myself a Cosmo till it got old and I got out and went back to circulating.

But everyone as far as I could tell, was having a wonderful time. And the best part for my hard mercenary soul--the books table was looking emptier and emptier.

After Agni switched on the lights and began to usher us out, a few of us decided to after party at Aqua next door. The original plan was to stay at Aqua till Agni reopened at 10.15, but there was a pool you could dangle your feet in and music like Time After Time so we stayed. And got drunker and drunker and drunker. Many "I lurrrrrrrrve you's" were said, squidgy faced hugs were given, beginnings of speeches made and abandoned and I was all teary and sentimental by the end of it.

The next day was the reading at Full Circle at the MGF Mall, which, frankly, was not an ideal space location because I was battling with a bunch of other sounds coming from nearby shops and the traffic was SO massive that evening, that a lot of people started out and never made it. But I got little Maya to read (I can't read, no really, if my kids ever ask me to read aloud, they probably won't ask me twice) and then I answered some questions and then everyone ate mini pizzas and then me, Fariha, Teleute and two other friends went off to Bennigans and drank some more (and ordered some chicken wings, which I gotta say, are not as good as they used to be). (Ooh, and I met the Mad Momma! Although, all too briefly, but next time, I have full plans of us hanging out more.)

People were missed though--Small in New York, Samit in Zurich, Urvashi in Washington, Sarnath in Sao Paolo (wow, I have really globe trotter-esque friends) and Shakti and Puja. I wish they had all been there, to share in my delight and pride of the evening and I thought of one or all of them the entire evening.

And now, I'm back in Bombay. Met at the airport by JC, which was lovely. It's so nice to have someone to meet you. We had our grand reunion and he cooked for me and Lali and it was excellent to be back. Tomorrow, Shark Tooth and Akshay arrive for the Bombay launch and I'm all yay! With friends like mine, I can afford to ignore the critics.

Well Toto, I guess we're not anonymous anymore

UPDATED TO ADD: The reading is on Saturday, August 23rd at 6.30 pm. It will be at Full Circle, Shop No. 13, 1st Floor, MGF Metropolitan Mall, Saket. Come and say hello. :)

In Delhi and madness promptly descends. Being met by the parents at the airport, and had picture clicked by mother's brand new camera phone as a) I wheeled my trolley out of the airport b) I walked to the car c) I stood with my dad and grinned my tired hungover up till three in the morning Old Monk tequila smile d) as my dad and I both signed copies of our books for a family friend (who gave me a lovely new pen. I'm dying to do some signing! Someone please ask me!) My parents have fully submitted to the media hoopla. They might even be more excited than I am. I'm actually supernaturally calm, all like, "Oh, it's not a big deal" or "Book? What book? Oh, thaaaaaaaaaat book. Right." Yes, I am aware that I sound like an idiot.

Although I think I might've OD'd on all this book talk. I've been asked the same questions so many times, I have to keep remembering what I said before so everyone gets different quotes. And OH MY GOD BOOK DOES NOT EQUAL BLOG I'M VERY FLATTERED YOU READ THE BLOG BUT THIS IS ABOUT MY BOOK. BOOK. B.O.O.K I know, though, that it's the obvious question. Everyone wants to know about how you turn a blog into something that gets published and read in bookstores. There's one simple answer: you don't. Writers are writers. Before the blog, we journal. I still carry around a notebook for commutes and things, so I can get things down when I think of them.

Okay, final word, final whisper about Delhi book related things, I promise. There is a party at Agni on the 22nd, but that has very limited space, soooooooo, there's another reading at Full Circle at some new mall in Saket. (Which means the piles of cement and scaffolding has actually turned into something, which makes me feel all Odysseus and oh, I've been away forever.) I'll confirm the time later. It's on the 23rd, which is Saturday. Come. The Bombay launch is the weekend after next, on the 29th at lalalalala Blue Frog! Aren't we all poash darling? I think we'll have a similar bookshop reading there also, so we can fit everyone in.

Leela is here! She stayed back for the launch and for Bani and Maya's berfday, and we did din-din yesterday, her and me and Bani and Ishan. We went to Ego, at New Friends Colony (I didn't realise it was still going strong!) and had a fabulous time despite the fact that it was a dry day. Then Ishan went home and we piled into their new fancy car (We're talking serious fancy here, the kind of car you'd never even sneeze in, let alone eat or drink or smoke) and went for a pahtay thrown by a new friend (and someone who's been helping with the online stuff of the book). There was alco, and Jenga and coaching in Hindi swear words and it was all very fun. Bani and I now have plans to go watch Jaane Tu and Bachna Ae Haseeno and then go eat chicken wings at Bennigans. Sometimes, in Bombay, in the middle of the night I lie awake listening to the sounds of crows and traffic and dream of those chicken wings. They're really good.

Ooh! Foreign-returned relatives were met brieflyfor lunch last week and I got a brand new iPod nano! The 8 GB one! And it's blue! And it has my initials on the back! I love it. Shiny, iPod babies will happen.

Anyhoo. Sorry about the infrequent posting, but it has been madness (MADNESS!) around here. Regular programming should resume shortly though.

How much of my fifteen minutes have I used up already?

This week I have been mostly posing for pictures as the pre-book media builds up. It's really quite cool, this 'being famous' thing, except I'm still all overwhelmed and taken aback and all, 'Really? You want to talk to me? Really?' So far, we have done HT Delhi, Elle, Tehelka and an email interview for the Asian College of Journalism. I'm feeling most la-di-da and celebrity like, so much so, that last night, when I was invited to a birthday party at Olive, I put on my fancy-with-a-belt slutty secretary Mango dress and added a string of pearls. I was that chick, dudes. The one who wears pearls. And says presumably. And the whole while I was in the rickshaw, I felt like a little girl all dressed up for a costume party, so I took off the pearls because I kept thinking someone was going to call me on them, going, "Why are you looking so dressed up?" Or, "Why are you pretending to be grown up?" But when I entered, I counted THREE strands of pearls on other people's necks so I very happily pulled mine out of my bag and put it on. The rest of the evening I spent periodically putting my hand up to my neck to see whether they had fallen off.

I should really wear my pearls more often.

But other than that being famous doesn't really feel very different from not being famous. It's all very exciting yes, but no one stops you in the street and asks for your autograph or anything. And your friends roll their eyes when an acquaintance comes up to you and says they saw you in something or the other. And I'm getting good at answering questions. I even use words like 'umbrage'! Also, I now know the frequently asked questions down pat: a) do you feel uncomfortable putting your personal life up on the internet? and b) How much of Sex And The City/Bridget Jones/whatever is your writing influence?

I go off to Delhi on the 15th (yay!) to stay till the 24th. Launch is on the 22nd at Agni in the Park Hotel, so please come if you're in the city. It should be a fun do, hopefully someone will keep away the alco till after I'm done talking because when I'm nervous I drink faster and then I will be at the mic going, "Woooooooohooooooooooo, writing a book totally ROCKS and I lurve you ALLL!" It won't do wonders for my image, no. Before you ask, the Bombay launch will be at the end of the month and other cities haven't been confirmed yet.

And I have learnt two new things. 1) I can actually look good in pictures even if my hair's not straight and 2) Undone eyebrows are in! (True story, I got it from an excellent source, which means no more pain. Now if only hairy legs were in, I'd be a happy camper.)

Pleh. And meh. And other noises to signify lack of blogging content

You know that thing bloggers often say to explain lack of blogging? "Real life happened"? I always think of that as the most pointless excuse. I mean, whenever REAL real life happens, I always have lots and lots to blog about, as opposed to having days of happy harmony (mostly) when there's really nothing very much to say.

Birthday parties abound. Deepti's was last week and there was a MENU for drinks we wanted (four of us--Deepti, Neel, Kalyan and me. JC had work type things but he joined me there at three am. Never say dating has made me old and middle-aged. I'm still young! And late night-able.) I learnt from Neel, how to make the ferpect margarita and a Cosmopolitan and then I generally amused myself by using the martini shaker. It was lots of fun to hang with Deepti again, till the 'wee sma' of the morning, watching the high tide and looking as the lights in the building opposite hers slowly went out, one by one. We chatted about not very much and were very pleasantly drunken monkeys by the time JC came, also a drunken monkey, to have another drink and then to come home with me. Sure, once I would have continued till 5, even going out for breakfast, and this time I passed out in the cab with my head on his shoulder and woke up right outside my house, but still.

Sameeeeeeeeeeeeer! Sameer is leaving for the UK (hmph) and he is having a farewell/birthday bash tonight and Chrisann and I are determined to make him cry with sentimentality. Sigh. Friends leave, friends return and I am feeling wanderlust fill my system again. But where to go? Further west was the original plan--but that means what? Qatar? Cairo? Istanbul?

I'd actually quite love to live in Istanbul. Dear Istanbulites, Please invite me to your country (So the whole single woman/freelance writer thing won't be an issue) and please provide me with a lucrative career so I can move there. Kisses! eM

That should do it. Have an excellent Saturday night, my lovelies.