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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20 April 2005

Y'know what I miss?

a) KitKats from phoren. That your cousins brought whenever they came to India for a holiday. Huge suitcases with the special 'foreign-returned' smell would be opened and these KitKat packs would be distributed along with the standard Hershey's Kisses and Snickers. Once in a while my aunt would experiment with other kinds of chocolate--Reeses Pieces, for instance--which always finished, sure, but with not as much love and intensity as the KitKat's were scarved. Then, they started making KitKat here, and it didn't really have the decadent taste that American chocolate seemed to. (Why is that?) But still, because it was available so freely here, the aunts stopped bringing it. Like Levi's. But my cousin-in-law remembers to bring me party bags of M&M's every time she visits. The KitKat is dead, long live the M&M! :)

b) Appu Ghar. I really, really miss Appu Ghar, which for non-Delhi residents used to be the biggest amusement park here. Way back, when I was much younger, Appu used to be a big craze. Nirula's did an Appu birthday cake, which was quite popular. (In fact, I even had an Appu cake. I think I was two or three. I also had a merry-go-round cake, an Asterix and Obelix cake, a mermaid cake and my favourite--a Hansel and Gretel cake. By the way, my mother and I always went to great pains to design those cakes and recently going back to the Nirula's Cake Shoppe, I noticed they've coolly added all MY designs to their catalogue! Too bad I didn't know about patenting or copyright notices then, no?) Anyway, so Appu Ghar was where we took all visitors to the city, including the foreign returned KitKat bearers. But we also went alone quite a bit, my parents and I, for an outing. They had this mechanical life-size clown, which sat in a glass box and held out a bar of soap in each hand and if you dropped one rupee in the coin slot it would start laughing. And that stupid clown would scare the shit out of me. They took it down later though.

c) Being able to blog from work. Really. Can you imagine if I still lived alone and I had no internet access at work? I'd be like the Bhutanese people who were the last citizens on the PLANET to get cable tv. That would be me. The internet deprived. The Google-less.

d) Having long hair :( Now, while I love my short hair and how easy it is to handle and how much better it looks, I still miss going swish-swish from shoulder to cheek. I miss reaching my hands under my nape and pulling all my hair back into a bun or a ponytail. I miss the soothing strokes of brushing. I miss ironing my hair and watching it become all straight. I miss washing it and watching loose long curls hang down my back. I miss hair accessories. But, my short hair does look nicer.

e) Having friends who are in town! Leela, Devyani, Nitya, why have you foresaken me?

f) Having a boyfriend.

15 comments:

  1. Note to self: Buy her some KitKats the next time around ;)

    I guess I can take your word for the fact that short hair you looks better than long hair you.

    Not being able to blog from work can be a good thing. I can see my productivity slipping by miles thanks to blogging and commenting :)

    About the boyfriend thing... hmmmm ;)

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  2. That reminds me of all the yummy chocolates my aunt would get for me. Somehow after I crossed 20, she stopped chocs. It became perfumes and clothes. Oh for those stockings of chocos, I would do but anything for them.

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  3. But KitKats were soon replaced by lacy lingerie!!

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  4. Oh no! No blogging while at work? That's unreasonable! Unfair!

    It must be too hard on you. I kow, it'd be on me!!

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  5. Vignesh: You know they did a study on how much time people spent on non-work related activities online? I forget what the figure was but it was mind boggling! (Google it!)

    Stalker I'm sure you could. Only I'm not sure I'd date someone called Stalker! :)

    AB Perfume is still good. My cousin got me a whole T Girl kit--perfume, lotion and glitter! :)

    Mangs: No lacy lingerie for me :( But my dad did get me a halter top with no front OR back. Hmmm...

    lad boy: No gay men, unfortunately. Some women though, if you're willing to overlook the gender ;)

    Addict: Ooh, new person! :) Reeses Pieces ARE lovely... but no match for M&M's surely?

    Mandar:It was really, really hard. But *sigh* I manage somehow.

    Billy Ooh other new person! (I love new commenters! Bring 'em on, baby!) But do what, exactly?

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  6. Note to self: Bring eM KitKats before Vignesh does.

    It's been hard working from home. Can you imagine having internet access and a bed right outside your office? That's a deadly combination!

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  7. a) never got those in childhood as didn't hv any close relatives in phoren :-(( but made sure of bringing a lot of m&m's, kisses and snickers for my friends/relatives when i returned from my first phoren trip.

    b) when i first visited delhi when i was perhaps in 10th std, visiting appu ghar was high on my agenda. after returning to my home town i liked the herolike treatment that i recd by my frnds for my wonderful experience at appu ghar.

    c) i blog only frm work, and it's killing my productivity (at work ofcourse!).

    d) I miss that too.... looooooong looooooong ago i used to hv long hair. this was so long ago that i recall this fact only because of a photo of 3 yr old me.

    e) i share that feeling.

    f) cant believe this... u r missing 'me'

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  8. tsk tsk@the last.see, u've got a lotta ppl willing to do u the honour.

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  9. Mint Ooh KitKat. I want KitKat. And yeah, I can imagine work from home would be tough.

    Amit Herolike treatement for visiting Appu Ghar? Hmmm.. now that's a first!

    Rapunzel I could do with some real life people as well, instead of the cyber world!

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  10. I never got any chocolates from relatives abroad. Come to think of it, I never had any relatives abroad! I used to love the toffee called "Kishmi" when I was a kid. It used to come in a red wrapper and used to cost 15 paise.

    I never got to go to Appu Ghar. I remember it was such a craze when it opened.

    In Pune there is a bakery which can put any picture you want on a cake.

    I have long hair now, and I love the feeling. :))

    Item f) is a big invitation for online wooing. I hope you can keep up with the number of people who offer their boyfriendhips.

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  11. What no Mallu NRI aunt's to get you Kitkat? :O
    Thankfully, all my cousins/ aunts still get me chocolates (it has something to do with their perception of my mental age being 3.5 years)

    I used to love Appu Ghar too, it used to be the place that my parents took me to 'reward' me for being a 'good' girl! :)

    Nice post...

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  12. hey anurag! i too used to love the "parle kismi" toffee, man! 15 paise... that was cool! and then, they came out with the "parle kismi toffee bar", which used to cost a rupee! ah, those wonderful days!

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  13. I'm not leading some party type lifestyle..i'm working (read freezing, its 4 degress) my butt off. And I'd love to tell you more if you ever decide to let me know your email ID.

    "Nitya"

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