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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26 December 2008

alcohol + eM = not coherent

Okay so I'm drunk right now. Drunk enough to make small letters into capital letters and vice versa. I think bullet points are in order.

I am a drunkyyyyyyyyyyy monkeyyyyyyyyyyy. I have had FIVE vodka cokes and a PINT of wine. This is terrible.

I miss JC who has been gone for two whole days. I am pathetic enough to a) check London time on my new phone (more about that later) and b) make my friends call him at "appropriate" London times.

I'm still drunk. Water is my friend.

The last time I was this drunk was when I lost my brand new Nokia 6600 slide. It was SO pretty. I feel sad still talking about it. Now I have a Fly phone. It has a touchscreen. Night pictures aren't great but the whole touchscreen experience is fabulous.

I had two people who recognised me at Toto's today. Wheee! I LOVE being recognised.

Andddddddd Goa tomorrow where drunkenness shall be the norm.

(Ick, I feel a little bit sick now)

Aravind Adiga is one of the "people I may know" on Facebook.

I'm so posh.

All I need now is Jhumpa and Arundhati and I'm set.

And Zadie Smith.

Who I want to have a lesbian relationship with.

Or a three way half hetero half lesbian thingie.

I've been watching Gilmore Girls so much I'm beginning to talk like them,

Coz I have all six seasons.

How jealous are YOU?

STILL DRUNK DAMMIT

The Morning After

Right. So I guess that dream I had about logging into Blogger and posting while I was shit faced wasn't really a dream after all. Heh.

I survey the damage and it's not so bad really. Well, I did have rather a tame evening despite the copious amounts of alcohol. We began at Toto's and then everyone got boring and went home at eleven, so I called a friend and went to chill with her. I carried along my pint bottle and by two am it was all over and JC called to keep me company as I went home.

AND, we realised that my phone might have a shitty night mode, but it has a great webcam attachment thingie, so I could plug it into my computer and we voice and video chatted which made me feel very high tech and cool. I might have even flashed the camera--but we can blame that on the wine.

Tonight, Ira and I are off to Goa on our ownsome. I am thrilled, not only about the beaches and the food and the parties lalalalala, but ALSO because the water pressure at my house has been shit the last two days and I am looking forward to having a REAL shower. Sigh. The things I fantasise about. It's really quite pathetic.

So, my regular year end post where I sum up the happenings of the last year can be done quite briefly this year.

I discovered promiscuity--AND, here's some information I didn't tell you then, this year is the year when my "number" entered double digits. Ladies and gentlemen, preeeeeesenting, the slut! (as a disclaimer, I don't like the word 'slut', I hate its connotations and I'm using it in an ironic kinda way here, not because I actually believe that any woman who likes sex is a whore or a slut or whatever.)

The job (and journalism) was put aside forever. Freelancing became my thing in April, and now I wonder why I'd ever want a full time job again? (Although, I miss the stability and security of a regular paycheck, and sometimes, on slow evenings, I miss the clatter of a newsroom.)

I got new flatmates this year--Lali and Yamini, and so far, even though the time when all three of us are actually in the house at the same time is rare, I think I got lucky.

My run of promiscuity ended when I met JC at a party, and he, we, us is definitely one of my biggest achievements of 2008. Knock on wood, now!

And finally, ta-dah, ta-dah, the book! With all that it brought. With the book tours and the signings and the *gasp* actual fans for me. Graduating from being a writer to being an Author. Letting other people enter my very private universe and judge it, and judge my characters who I created with such love. Learning to live with bad reviews, learning not to get complacent with the good ones.

And now, oddly, despite all that has changed I find myself in the exact same place I was last year. About to go to Goa with a friend. Maybe I'll look at the same fireworks on the same beach, but the anticipation I feel about 2009 is very different from what I had for 2008. More of the same please!

Love you darlings, be good, and if you can't be good---well, you know the rest of that sentence.

43 comments:

  1. Wow..Didnt actually think I'd be the first one to comment on one of your posts..I KNEW chronic insomnia had atleast ONE advantage..Anyways..as you might have already heard ad nauseam..Huge fan here...Absolutely LOVEEEEEEE your blog..and umm..strangely tounge tied..Cant think of anything else to type..ANyways..hope you had a very Merry Christmas..and wishing you a very very veryy Happy New Year.. :)
    -Sunil

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  2. Best wishes for the Christmas Season !
    And, you sound like I used to be..!
    Aaahhhhh, those were the days.....!
    Yup, but now, I'm a recovering alcoholic ! Reason being, I didn't know that all alcohol has an unseen, nearly unknown ability to destroy ones health !!! Yup !!
    & 99% of them have no cure's !!!!
    It just moves in & stays forever !!
    So be careful dear one.......!!!
    As my unhealthy life, really sucks big time !!!
    /sheila

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  3. I finished reading your book yesterday. It was a good read.

    Looking forward to another one from you :)

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  4. Merry Christmas!
    And happy drinky.


    I have a sax new touch phone too, and it's night pictures suck as well. No flash.

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  5. Could have written more. Enjoyed reading it. Especially the 'lesbian thingie' ;)

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  6. I started climbing the gates of heaven ( i found out later that it was a church gate i was climbing) yesterday and started cleaning my socks in the middle of a 6 lane high way....

    How drunk are u ?

    Merry christmas. You are allowed to drink at such a time. Its in the bible.

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  7. Hi! Can you please make and send for me copies of all 6 seasons of gilmore girls? I promise to be your friend and not stalk u!!

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  8. I leave you alone for a day and this is what you end up doing?!
    Shame on you! And that to without me!

    Oh well Em, we'll always have Goa I suppose!

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  9. all filler, no killer. please stop writing for the love of baby seals.

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  10. same pinch gilmore girls...and same pinch fly phone... AND same pinch, i'm having the new years' on first jan too!!!!(am i drunk?)

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  11. Have you heard about the ban on beach parties in Goa?
    On that merry note, Happy New Year.

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  12. "Drunkyyyyyyyyy monkeyyyyyyyyy"
    GOD it’s snorting-liquids-out-of-your-nose worthy!
    I like you drunk ... makes for really good reading!
    S

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  13. Goa on New Year's Eve!!!!!!

    Yeee!
    Maybe I'll see you there.

    P.S. We do have the same phone. webcam is the shiz, no?

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  14. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  15. Aravind Adiga? would you add him?? ;)
    Have a fabulous 2009 girl!
    - flaneur!

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  16. merry christmas!
    getting good and drunk is what i did too.
    have fun in goa!

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  17. Gawd the comments telling you you used to write better piss ME off.

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  18. I too have a very similar post . Is this the season when every one gets over drunk ?

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  19. I remember the first make out session, when I got drunk (very ;0)) for the first time.

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  20. i love your style :) and this blog keeps bringing me back for more..

    and i never fail to be entertained. and i always leave with a smile.

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  21. whoa...! dont you hate it when friends (or people around you) get boring? neways, ur coming to goa and i'm leaving... even so, try and enjoy it ;)

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  22. I must confess that your blog bugs me cos it seems to be just another attempt at being a desi carrie bradshaw and it is so totally "chick lit"

    but then I must also confess I am totally changing my mind after you have said "I don't write chick lit...I write cliterature."

    cool - sp since im a big one for neologisms

    and yes I also bought a copy of your book

    god I hate you!

    ;)

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  23. hey eM!i loveeee your blog and started reading it recently.i haven't been able to read much,but love whatever i have.i almost wish i was a journalist instead of doing medicine.your write so well and the ease with which words flow into another is remarkable.strangely i am the compulsive talker.and i so loved your template.have a fantastic new year.let us know all your escapades on your return.ciao!

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  24. Happy New Year eM. Don't mean to hurry you or anything :P .... but where's the new year post???

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  25. I love zadie smith.
    I am jealous about the gilmore girls.
    and, happy new year:)
    and...good book! Nice read. I like how real and believable it is. Everyone can see a bit of themselves, I think. Great blog!

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  26. hey! u have maintained a blog for so many years. can u give me blogging tips too?

    http://rheaakatadka.blogspot.com

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  27. Many good writers turned into alcoholics because people loved what they wrote while drunk. You might head the same way darling :-)
    BTW just started reading your blog. Can you give the name of your book???? I would love to read it.

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  28. @Nikita: You Are Here
    by Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan

    Published by : Penguin Books India
    Published : August 2008
    Imprint : Penguin
    Special Price : Rs 199.00
    Cover Price : Rs 199.00
    ISBN13 : 9780143064343
    Edition : Paperback
    Format : B
    Extent : 272 pp
    Classification : Fiction
    Rights : World
    One-Word-Review : Crap

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  29. writing was not coherent! sorryyyy ..veryyyyy boryyyyyy

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  30. Oi! Your book gave me company in my baking-car-in-Bombay and of course a few days before that when I started reading it. You say it like it is, and that takes guts. So there, let your critics beat that. Cheers, and have a nice year!

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  31. seems we all sail in similar boats..i did find many young women who are going through the same phase of life...wow..am so excited to find my replicas...go ahead..

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  32. Ummm..how long are we (your fans) gonna have to wait for your New Year post?? :)

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  33. you drunk on the 4th anniversary of the Tsunami. did you drink to their after-lives?

    [i've always thought the google word verification system is drunk, jivervo it says]

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  34. Hey I just finished reading your book yesterday and am falling short of words. I LOVED it..is an understatement, but as I said I really am falling short of words. Your book is the kind that I'll pick up and read random pages when I'm in the pitts of despair and am sure I can't face this beastly bitch of a world!!! Your book was as refreshing a quick smoke break one takes near a window or on a balcony (BTW I finished reading it in 2 days). At one point I felt that I was reading through someone's personal journal and I kinda felt guilty and wanted to put it down, but boy or boy you had me hooked and I lapped it up page after page :) I'm yet to read your blog, just wanted to let you know that your book really helped me through a rather shity phase that I 've just been through and all I ever wanted to do then was just keep reading and reading..and it worked :)) And yeah have a great new year!!!

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