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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24 November 2004

About two weeks ago...

...my friends and I were sitting around drinking Smirnoff's lovely raspberry vodka with coke and playing the True Confessions game. The question: what's the worst thing you've ever done?
(First, back story: a while ago in Delhi, there was the huge urban legend going around. Basically there were supposedly a group of sadists who operated in crowded areas with needles infected with the AIDS virus. And then they jabbed you with it, but of course, since you were in a crowded area you couldn't feel it. But when you got home you found a small sticker on your body saying: Welcome To The World Of AIDS. The story had many variations. In one, there was a man who crawled around under movie theatre seats jabbing legs. In another, two girls took a ride with a strange man and the needles were placed strategically under the seat or something. When they got out, the man chucked two t-shirts at them and sped away. And, yes, the t-shirts said "Welcome to the world of AIDS". We all half-believed this story and you have to realise, it was like a mania around this time, because everyone was talking about it.)
So it was Nitin's turn. He took a pull at the joint he was holding and said, "Well you remember that whole "Welcome to the world of AIDS" thing?" We nodded. "So, Gautam and I decided to print up a whole bunch of stickers on his computer," he shot a sly look at Gautam who blushed.
"Go on," I said, passing Gautam the vodka.
"Anyway, so a whole bunch of us were going to this amusement park and we decided to put the stickers on this guy. And he freaked," Nitin started laughing and I gave him a stern look.
"Then what happened?" asked Iggy.
"So he just went and sat all day on a video game and he kept playing and playing and not talking to any of us. That's what he spent all his money on that day," Nitin's voice grew more sombre, "And he wouldn't talk to any of us."
We all sat silently for a bit.
"Finally, we told him it was a joke and all. But it was wierd, y'know?"
I wonder what he was thinking playing that game.




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