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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22 July 2005

The Invalid


Clearly some people have no patience. And no, it's not the threat that got me to get out of bed to the computer, just that I was feeling a little better, having just had one of those steam baths that leave your fingertips and your toes all puckered and your bathroom mirror all fogged up and your skin almost, but not quite blistering, just exquisitely red. So my sinuses have cleared up a little, the fever has practically gone, and yeah, I do feel a little less sorry for myself.

My room is also looking a little nicer--it's been looking like I feel these days--you know, stuffy, because I couldn't stand the fan on more than one or two speed, and when you sleep from when it's daylight to nighttime and you wake up and put on the tubelight and your mouth tastes all metallic and you feel even worse than before.

So yeah, no really, really exciting stuff. Just that I've been reading a lot in my awake time, I just finished The Kite Runner yesterday, it didn't take me very long, quite nice too. And some old Mad magazines which I love. The new ones, the ones they make here now in India aren't nearly as good as the old ones are they? The new ones have Spy vs Spy in colour for fucks sake. And the jokes are terrible and the satires are barely funny. And they don't do 'The Lighter Side Of...' anymore, ever since that chappie who used to draw them died, Dave something. It's like the new Asterix comics All At Sea and all, which just didn't have the same humour they did when the other guy was alive (WHY can't I remember any names? I'm too young to be losing my memory!) And I re-read some Calvin And Hobbes--the indispensible I think--and fondly recalled my own imaginary friends.

Yes, I had imaginary friends. I was a lonely sorta kid, little wierd too, who preferred to read or talk to flowers or create zoos with caterpillars than play House-House or stapoo (hopscotch) or Mother May I. Once this other kid was giving me a hard time and instead of retaliating, what did I do? I made a voodoo doll of her and snipped off her legs and her arms. Gave me great pleasure too. Nothing ever happened to her though. Anyway, so my imaginary friends were called Sarah and Gaurav (and these are real names, not psuedonyms) and they could fly and they thought I was supercool. And then I forgot what happened to them. Oh wait, yeah, I made some "real" friends and learned to conform a little and play with Barbies and Sarah and Gaurav perished. I suppose if like Calvin was real and all, Hobbes probably has what? a year or two at most of existence. That's rather sad.

There have been people in my house too--many relatives, but because I'm sick and confine myself to my room, I don't see much of them. I have promised to take The Cousin out clubbing, since she wants to see some of Delhi's nightlife and flesh-and-blood get my upgraded Clubs-Of-Delhi tour, starting with, yes, TC tomorrow. :) If I'm not dead by then.

Okay, I'm going back to sleep. The picture is of my ceiling by the way, the view I have had for the past two days. Over here is another picture, but of me, not of my ceiling. At least me-in-the-eyes-of-other-people. Though my mom did look at it and go, "That's pretty good!" Hmph. :)

16 comments:

  1. eM: Get well soon. I have come back from office, loaded with work.... there goes my weekend (as have several weekends in the past). No surfing blogs for me,for quite some time, nor venting on mine. No time to vent.

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  2. I used to pretend all the bottles and jars on my mom's dressing table were imaginary people. So there were lots of girls in my imaginary world with names like "Shasilk", "Lakme" and "Estee Lauder" :-)

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  3. Awww I didn't know you were unwell.

    When I was a kid I was told that if you wrote someone's name on a piece of paper, then doused it in medicated oil and set it alight you could give that person tummy aches.

    Unsurprisingly my parents used to find me outside the house all the time, setting fire to little pieces of paper.

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  4. I used to talk to my tamarind tree.. I think I even named her something.. Lika or something like that!

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  5. Once I set our dining room carpet on fire because I was camping with my imaginary friend and we needed a campfire.

    Get well soon!

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  6. THATS your ceiling ???? Thats damn cool !!!!

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  7. Take Care eM! hope you are feeling better already..

    I remember you posting about a having blogger's meeting some time back, though I am not sure if that meet happened.

    There 'is' a Delhi Blogger's Meet happening this saturday (23rd July - 6 pm) at CCD - C.P. Just in case you or anyone else reading this comment is interested, you are welcome to attend :o)

    checkout my blog for details.

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  8. I had an imaginary friend named Jack when I was small. I think I based him on the character Jack in the Secret Seven. We used to sing songs and ride bikes together!! I inadvertantly let it slip to my work friends one day in the recent past and they haven't stopped teasing me since!! Nobody else ever knew he existed.

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  9. Waaa! I didn't have any imaginary friends when I was a kid. In fact, I didn't have any friends when I was a kid. :((

    Nice ceiling. I wonder whether it hypnotizes you into a deep sleep.

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  10. lubu: Thanks! I hope the work load lessens for you also :)

    motheater: Thanks for that comment! It got me giggling for about fifteen minutes! :)

    jay: Oooh what kind of medicated oil? And did it ever work? ;)

    lavi: I once "rescued" a rubber tree plant which had blown off a balcony. I called him Gerald :)

    mint: Heh. I wasn't allowed to TOUCH matches till I was about 13 or 14!

    rat: Thanks! The rest of my room is lavender and yellow too :)

    amitken: Thank you.. I'll definitely see if I can make it :)

    penny lane: Hey wasn't there a movie bout this kid with an imaginary friend called Jack?

    anurag: Awwww... but it's not too late to get one now :)

    raxterize: So your imaginary friends and your friends imaginary friends battled other imaginary friends? Wow.

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  11. first of all, really cool ceiling!

    when i was a kid, i had imaginary students, who i would give quite long lectures to. :D

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  12. i agree ompletely wit ya bout de new asterixs..suck big time...

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  13. I cracked up at that sketch. As your mom said, pretty nice !! :)

    And glad to know you are doing all better now. Though, I guess since I didn't know you weren't well in the first place, I was never really not glad.

    Hmmmm.

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  14. Hey, your blog's pretty compulsive, all right!

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  15. jasmine, mandar: Thanks! :)

    vibhu: Damn and here I thought I'd get away with that! Oh well :)

    dor: Don't they? Don't they? See?

    adagio: Awww... you should've killed them. Really :)

    forgetful: Well, much better now, thank you :)

    vignesh: Um... okay! :)

    monica: Heh. Thanks, I think.

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