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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30 August 2008

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.

50 comments:

  1. "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?)"

    Agreed! Readings come and readings go, but photographic (and video, horrors!) evidence is forever. :D

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  2. Congrats for your book !!!

    You are all over in the media and a True celebrity now !!

    Enjoy the Glamorous life ;)

    Keep Blogging !!!

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  3. What's the name of your book? Living in Sngapore now, I am remarkably lost in the matter in Indian news. I want to read!!

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  4. Wait... I googled you and found it. I shall buy it. Hopefully, I'll recognise the places you talk about (it is based in Delhi, right?)

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  5. Are you selling your book in across the shores.. like in the California?.. I would love to get a copy out here

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  6. finished the book! yay! :)

    ps: it was awesome btw.

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  7. ugh, as for the knee-d, I've been there...
    i have a habit of knee-ing people in the butt, like a kick, only with the knee.

    so i did that to one of my friends and he turns around all mad and says 'hey you kicked me in the ass!'

    "no...." i say, " I knee-d you in the ass."
    he just looks at me for 5 minutes as we both register what i just said.
    NEVEr again.....

    MUST GET BOOk. sigh.

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  8. Go with the poster, girl! You did it, be proud and show-off. And since when have you cared what othe people think? This is a huge deal, so bask in it, revel in it, shine in it...any way you want to.

    And as for the pun...cute!

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  9. I think that big, framed poseter would look lovely in the study. Now, I don't care if you have that kind of a house or not. I'm just asnwering as Miss Manners!

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  10. Try lemon tea when you are down. Works with all the cyclopalm lovers i know, including mezz.
    :D

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  11. And celeb you are! With a super glam life.
    :D
    Bask in the glory girl!
    Congsie on the book. I feel miserable for having missed the delhi launch :( I want a signed copy :( D.E.S.P.E.R.A.T.E.L.Y.

    How can i get it? pls pls pls

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  12. alrite...i read ur book n loveddddddddddddd it...really!!
    and all of a sudden m finding myself recommending tis book 2 all my gal frnds who seem 2 b all depressd n stuff...hopefully they'l find a break aftr readin tis book..!!

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  13. I read quite a few of the oh-who-does-she-think-she-is reviews this week. They're really running you over, chopping you into little pieces and feeding them to your own mother, aren't they?
    The book was quite a lot of fun and I now have to refrain from starting every post title with an 'In which...'.
    But I have a bone to pick with you, m'lady. What was up with incessantly repeating "It's not the blog!"
    It is too the blog. The chapter recounting Arshi's first time was quite simply copied and pasted from the post about K. and you. I don't know if you're trying to do a Plath (Insert a 'No, really, it's NOT about me!') or something, but whatever it is, the critics hate it and everyone I know who's read it seems to love it.

    It could have been more tongue-in-cheek, but that way, you've worked out the not-writing-as-yourself thing.

    Good reading, though.

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  14. Hi, i have been reading your blog for quite some time,
    Do you thing your are different from other writer?
    if yes, why?

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  15. Bought the book, and finished the first 3 chapters... Good so far.. :)
    Will let you know how I like you, not that it matters though! :)

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  16. ah
    your book.

    i finally have a face to associate with eM. (i googled you)

    sorry for never having commented before, but ive been dropping in to read The Compulsive Confessor for quite a long time now

    congratulations on your book being launched.
    i send good wishes and good tangible things your way :D

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  17. hey I just googled you and found your book out. I love the opening lines: "NO ONE SHOULD TELL their story unless they're absolutely certain they have something to say.

    I'm actually not absolutely certain that my story is life-changing or earth-shattering, but I know that the words are collecting at the tips of my fingers and that if I don't shake them out over the keyboard they could go backwards and form word clots around my heart. Word clots are worse than blood clots -- because blood clots more or less kill you as soon as they reach a vital area in your body, but word clots just stay, occasionally giving you heartburn with all the things you could have said but didn't."


    I think its awesome! :) And now that you are a published author, I can post your quotes to my favorite literary quotes community here: http://community.livejournal.com/literaryquotes/6154649.html

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  18. what's the name of your book, and how can I get it here in U.S? :(

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  19. Your life reads like an airhead socialite's

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  20. Congrats on your book launch.
    Came across this blog a few weeks back and have been going through your archives since.
    And to add my chavanni to your huge purse(literally) i did go and buy a copy of your book.
    Best of Luck, Prasanth

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  21. Hey, I bought the book and it was a pleasure to read:)I wish the end could've been a tad different, or better...but that said, awesome going! you're an inspiration to a lot of young writers out there...keep writing! And, damn the critics..they're a bunch of people who can't do much anyway.

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  22. hey....... still grounded,eh????

    very very classy of u.

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  23. Managed to finish reading the book over the weekend, despite the two devils hovering around me desperate to catch my attention, that they miss during the week. It truly was un-put-downable!

    Kudos to you girl. BTW, does Topsy get married to Fardeen, I really liked him a lot.

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  24. Congrats for the book and famedom :-)

    Cheers!Hic!

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  25. Congrats! Btw, is there a reading/book launch in B'lore? If yes, when; if no,wtf? Why not?! :)

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  26. goodness!i knew cyclopam was banned elsewhere, but its a free ride home? i am right behind you. damn this monthly!
    ps-from where did you get the princess bride e book.
    pps-all the best with kneading.
    ps3-and i think its not egoism. you deserve it girl:)

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  27. @Prashanth: I am sure she doesn't own a huge purse.

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  28. and what's the name of the book?

    congratulations by the way!! u must be on cloud nine. :)

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  29. I must have already sent across my wishes about the book release. (Hopefully, IdeaSmith did convey 'em dutifully) Bookstores over here in the US cities are not carryin' a copy of your book and am not sure what to do about that!

    Are you sure JC wasn't sayin' 'neice' of 'knees'!

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  30. I meant - 'niece' instead of 'knees' (man, talk about spelling mistakes and dropped words)

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  31. I had a guy once ask me to take my sandals off so that he could check out my feet. I was like WTF. Anyway, I did it. And his reaction to them were, "Yeah, they look pretty fine." And no further elaboration. Men are weird.

    Congrats on your book. What is the name?

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  32. oh my. im reading your book right now..and cat put it down!
    damn. ur really good. ive read ur columns too..sumthin that i now look forward to everyday..
    but ur book..
    i like! i like!
    (ecstatic)
    (fellow blogger to a fellow blogger, a writer to a writer)
    (modest)
    (damn)

    cheers,
    samata
    www.fromsouptonutss.blogspot.com

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  33. I am sorry I bought your book, because I think you are going to end up writing 6 more and become like Shobha De, with an opinion on everything.

    Do ask her - what happened to her current husband's first wife? Can you electrocute yourself in your own tub that easily?

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  34. gr888 work...
    looking forward to ya book.. hope to find it in some store right in your own land( okkay now Im not calling you a mallu!)of kerala

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  35. @literally nazi
    Mate, she does have an enormous bag...read about it in a blog defending her book.
    PS...Me thinks i am stalking all web site writing about MMR
    Note to self..gotta finish all archives and get back to work

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  36. hey... i read some of ur postd.. they are "oneself"...
    i like them!

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  37. Ooh. Writer from the Subcontinent. My favourite sort. =)
    Any chance your book's available across the border? =)

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  38. I like your frank way of writing. I am going to pick up a copy of the book soooooon :)

    Suma

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  39. loved loved loved the book.....congratulations!

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  40. watch contempt (la mempris)

    "do you love my knees?

    Oui

    Do you love my breats?

    Oui

    Do you love my nipples?

    Oui

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  41. Bought your book today...Looking forward to reading it.

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  42. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  43. Comment#43 (In which I confess, I am in love with Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan)

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  44. wht book?

    damn, i shud come here more often...

    now i will have to google and find out...

    btw, congrats...just thought that u knee'd to know.

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  45. I've got to tell you I love your book. It really makes for some good reading. Congrats.

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  46. saw the photos babe - u look fantastic!!

    you have also been awarded - come and collect :)

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  47. Watch eM's 'You Are Here' Delhi book launch at Agni!

    Featuring many shots of the author and her friends, three extracts from 'You Are Here' read by Meenashi herself (sitting on the bar no less!) and highlights of a great night, catch the Compulsive Confessor live in action!

    Make sure You Are Here!

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  48. YOUR BOOK IS JUST RUBBISH...
    UNREADABLE...............
    JVic

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  49. Congrats for your book!
    Though I am a long followerr of your blogs before that..your writings..always interested me because of the dareness, bravery, smart way to describe life nakedly and also along with a beautiful romantic feeling flowing underneath..and much more than your each writing blogs pops up for more as they are in real sense..Spicy!

    If you have time please go through my blogs and share your comments. It would be greatly helpful for me..would really like a tip from you..you can find my blog in :
    http://subhadip-writerscolumn.blogspot.com/

    Thanks and keep on blogging!
    Your new book launched in Kolkata?
    Subhadip Majumdar

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