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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10 September 2011

Getting away from it all

Taking a bit of an early sanyas and heading off into the hills tomorrow. Destination Ramgarh, which is a little village an hour and a bit from Katgodham, the nearest train station. Not for a holiday, oh no, I've been a bad grasshopper this summer and done not a speck of work (too hot! too many parties! too many other things!) and I don't want to wind up with no stores in my closet come wintertime. So, when I get to the station tomorrow afternoon, I will buy a return ticket for two weeks later, but it's cheap enough that I can push it back if I want to, and just stay forever. Or until I go completely off-the-wall crazy. One of the two. I only have one carton of  cigarettes after all, and those'll have to last me till the end.

The mission is to finish most, if not all, work on book three (yay!) so I can have at least one draft ready, and while wedding season is on (beginning end October, going on all the way through till December) all I have to do is tweak and fine tune, which means by my 30th birthday; fast approaching; I will have a completely formed third book, ready to submit by February, ready to be published by summer. Well, the publishing bit is iffy, these things take time and are sadly not in my hands, but sometime next year, my new book should be out.

In all this, I am also detoxing a little bit. Carrying running shoes. Doing yoga every day. No alcohol. Andddd, the worst part, I'm also going off Facebook and Twitter a little bit. 'Course, I'll have my dongle (hee. that word always makes me giggle. DONGLE!) but I plan to use that for my scheduled down time, an hour a day, to reply to email, send deadlines, and general news checking. So I don't miss stuff. Well, major stuff anyway. It would be odd to return to Delhi and find this whole city was submerged by a tidal wave. Or suffered a nuclear apocalypse.

I need to think, you guys, book stuff and non book stuff  are battling for space in my mind, and I need to be in a place where there's only thinking to do, so when I get back my brain will resemble a well-organised file cabinet. Everything in its rightful place, with all the answers at the push of an alphabet. I guess that means I'm also going to be a little silent on this blog, but all for the greater good, no?
Anyway. As you can see from my single word sentences, I desperately need to get my writing groove back. I'll see you when I'm a writer once more!

12 comments:

  1. sounds like so much fun, like a sabbatical almost. where will you be staying?

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  2. Ramgarh is a lovely place. My favorite place to stay is Cedar Lodge, whose cook is totally awesome.

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  3. Wow...have a good time and hope the book pans out really well!

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  4. Theres nothing more constructive like staying away from fb and twitter for a while.You will surely get more time space stuff :) Keep writing .cheers

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  5. OMG! You are sooo lucky, I wish I was going away, I'd jump at the chance of getting away from these CBSE Grade XII books anyday. Well, I hope your stay at Ramgarh is worthwhile :)

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  6. Well deserved break I suppose...:)
    Good luck with the book!

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  7. You are a writer even when you are not eM...your book will be good. All the best :)

    http://shveta-pollyanna.blogspot.com/

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  9. For someone who seems so smart and well educated and with the times, I don't understand the need to smoke! I am sure many of your friends nagged you about this but as a scientist and a fan of your blog, I wanted to put in my 2c worth! Think about it. Not fun or pretty when you have lung cancer. Other than that, wanted to say that your blog is very well written and entertaining! Keep it up.

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  10. That is some serious vacation ... Await post nirvana posts :-)

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  11. I always go to Kumaon and its surroundings for vacation, simply because I can drive down with my pet in tow cause he can't stay without me.I stay in Mukteshwar at a stretch sometimes, now I know where to head for if I want to jot down my thoughts

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