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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18 July 2005

Life type things



I'm in a self-potrait-y mood these days and therefore have got all sorts of vague pictures of myself in the mirror. There is a nice one of my belly ring but I think it might be a little too much to go on the internet, so here is one I got Samar to take at Hookah the other day. That is my hand, yes, and if you look closely, you'll see a dolphin shaped ring that Damien gave me the other day. Well, he didn't so much give it to me as have me wrench it off his finger and say gleefully, "This is mine now, yes?" I love it though and it looks much better on my hand so there,

I've been in a strange sort of mood too, besides the self-portrait one. It's very odd. I don't feel like doing anything, and the littlest things make me want to cry. It's a the-world-is-out-to-get-me kind of mood and if you say PMS I will personally kill you.

I woke up at five thirty in the morning yesterday to get to the bookshops by six. I was doing a story on the Harry Potter thing, to see whether people would show up, but no dice. Only sleepy me and a sleepier photographer. By nine we wrapped up and I took my new book and went to Sagar for breakfast. Then, because it was still some obscene hour of the morning and no one was willing to wake up and hang out with me (hmph) I went to the Habitat Centre and sat on one of their benches and finished reading. Can I just say I was very disappointed with this one. I mean, hello, granted they're sixteen and all, but the amount of romance that was going on after the very tame Cho Chang kiss of the last book would put a fluff fic writer to shame. (Double hmph) And soooooooooooo predictable. Really.

When the last HP book came out I was still with He Who Shall Not Be Named and I sped read my way through the book so he could read it next and so we could have lively discussions. This time however, I have no one to talk to about the book, no one to have lively discussions with, no one who really cares about what I think and wants me to see their side of things and no one I want to convince that it's my way or the highway. So I shall do what single women everywhere do and just talk to myself.

(SPOILER ALERT: THE PLOT WILL BE REVEALED. SCROLL DOWN TO THE ASTERISKS IF YOU STILL HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK)
edit: sorry, sorry, sorry, if you saw what was written! At his suggestion I have now put the required blank text lines. So now we're all set, right?











Dude I mean, the whole Snape thing, wow.
Oh please, I saw it coming from a mile away.
Yeah? You saw him being the Half Blood Prince? Like hell you did.
Well, excuse me for being smarter than you are.
Smarter? Hah. You didn't see the whole Harry-Ginny thing, now, didja?
Wellllllllll...
And that was so obvious.
Okay this is getting depressing, let's stop.
Okay.
Okay.






***************** SPOILER ENDS*****************

We also went to Elevate last night, where DJ Ryan was playing and the sms that I got in the morning promised me "hip hop and bollywood" but really, he seemed to only be playing Kajraa Re in some kind of loop over and over again. I didn't mind because I like that song and I was consuming many kinds of alcohol in a large hookah shaped thing with a curly glass pipe that you sucked and magically vodka and rum and beer and red bull would apparate (since I've just finished The Half Blood Prince I'm using much Rowling terminology) into your mouth.

And Boston Boy returns on Tuesday night and just to show him that I'm busy and I have a life I've taken an assignment on Wednesday night--some fashion show at Olive--which I'm now massively regretting because I've been waiting for him to return since January and I'm so excited and I can't wait to see him and why, oh why am I so self-destructive?

I wonder whether we'll hook up, Boston Boy and I, while he's here. I wonder if that'll be such a good idea. I like him, I really do, but the fact that he's not here is a big drawback. And I don't want to just screw around and risk losing our friendship. And I don't want to be in this funny mood when he gets here. I want to be upbeat and normal and chirpy not the Ms. Sad Sack that I've morphed into. (By the way, if you're curious about Boston Boy, I think he's in my January archives)

I wonder if he'll make my pupils dilate.


EDIT: My good friend Ash whose budday it was the uzzer day (Re-happy to you!) and who, by the way, introduced me to the whole concept of fanfic (basically aroused my curiousity and inspired many Google searches till I found Schnoogle) has a great HP6 analysis on her blog which you should read if you follow fanfic at all.

27 comments:

  1. does harryn finally shag hermione in this one?

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  2. "I like him.. but the fact that he's not here is a big drawback. And I don't want to just screw around and risk losing our friendship."

    Don't do it! I did this once and I regret it to no end.

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  3. Damn you! I did my best to not know, and then I open Thunderbird, and before the Spoiler alert has time to register, I see it. Don't you know that you're supposed to put at least 10 lines of blank text between the spoiler alert and spoilers, just so nobody sneaks a peek??? Now I'm furious.

    Oh, but the belly button ring photo cheered me up. Nice midriff, I must say.

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  4. Lend me the book and I'll read it and then we can dizcuz.

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  5. nish: Noooooooooooooooo :)

    mint: I'm gonna try. But as you know will power ha never been one of my assets. Aargh.

    gamesmaster: Awwww.. sorry! Would it help if I told you that it wasn't very much of a spoiler because you would've figured it out anyway? And um.. the picture DOES still have my hand in it right? Not my bellybutton?

    motheater: You can have it as soon as my colleague finishes. And we shall have animated discussion :)

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  6. somehow I have never read the Hp series. I mean, I missed it when it came out initially, then I did not see any of the movies because I wanted to read the books first, then I did not read any of the books (I was even gifted one) because I wanted to read the first one first, and now I sometimes think I am missing out on this sort of cultural phenomenon that is little HP 9or not so little now) and Madame Rowling.
    Oh well.
    what a mess.

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  7. That photo... Hadn't they banned smoking inside Bars in India too?

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  8. Thank you for tha changes, as well as your faith in my reasoning ability.
    And as for the bellybutton - I am quite capable of differentiating between a midriff and a metacarpal, thank you very much. Perhaps this is the time to talk about ghost links and RSS feedsm but maybe not. To prove it, I could mail you the photo (its a close-up of your midesction above a pair of low-rise jeans, with the two pieces of metal in your navel very clearly visible)

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  9. Hey wicked girl was it a free copy??? Damn I should have come after all:)

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  10. Hey Vague, fret not dude. I'm in exactly the same hole myself. Buying the first two books and getting started is always high on my priority list but I somehow never get around to it, and then another new 600-pager comes along, and then another, and another. Oh well, maybe when I'm 64...

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  11. Well, I called 'the famous death' at the end ... my brother had his money on Snape.. but I called it ! Woohoo !!

    I think its time for a chauffer conversation.. talk about HP and BB and WD.

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  12. You've already read it???!!!!! I must be the only person in the world who reads at the pace of a snail!

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  13. Bitch and a half.
    Twas me that took you to Schnoogle via Cassie Claire. ME!!!! ME!!! And don't you dare claim any different. sniff.
    *stomps off in a huff*

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bitch and a half.
    Twas me that took you to Schnoogle via Cassie Claire. ME!!!! ME!!! And don't you dare claim any different. sniff.
    *stomps off in a huff*

    ReplyDelete
  15. These westernized women will have cigarettes and do what not.When is the anti-pollution day? Somehow, it is getting more relevant, evety passing year.Hookah,ciggy,lol.

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  16. I guessed everything you guessed and some more. Did you see Lupin and Tonks, did you, did you? I did. Read comments on my blog for affirmation. And they were made before I raed this, don't say I was cheating.

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  17. if you want to borrow my best friend to talk to about harry potter--please do. seriously. she's such a lunatic about these books now and I FOOLISH WOMAN started the whole thing. i'd read the first 2 books and she hadn't--said she didn't think they could be nearly as good as something like THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH. then the film was coming and i sort of insisted that she read the first one so she could compare text to screen...why did i ever...i stopped at the 2nd book (novelty REALLY wore off) and she now hounds me at least 4 times a week to CATCH UP. please. PLEASE see my best friend about HALF BLOOD PRINCE conversations. i like the new template, by the way...looks very sophisticated. we miss you around my block of the net:)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Grah. I have the flu. sniffle, sniffle*

    vague: Okay, here's what you do--keep aside a weekend, put your phone off, lock the door and read all the way through book six. You're really lucky actually because you have six of the series just waiting for you and you don't have to wait the agonized one or two years that the rest of us did.

    Jabberwock: Ditto.

    fingeek: No, not in bars, just in public places, which no one follows anyway.

    gamesmaster: Okay fine. :P

    ab: Noooooooo, I shelled out 800 bucks for it and then felt terrible because at Khan Market they were selling it for six.

    raxterize: Okay EW. :)

    vignesh: BB? WD?

    tama: I suck at tech stuff too.. my new lesson is NEVER upload pictures you're not okay with having "out there". :)

    sunshine woman: Fear not, many people I know own it and haven't even STARTED yet. Honestly.

    dee: Oh yeah! It WAS you! :)

    marauder: Noooooooooooo, I completely missed Lupin and Tonks and felt so dumb after that. But I did guess Bill and Fleur were going to hook up, so there! :)

    fuego: Superfast give me her email address! I NEED someone to talk to about the book, very badly. And thanks muchly for liking the template. :)

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  19. Nope, not the one in your life, but fellow hack, only a corporate one. Cool blog.
    ;-)

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  20. I keep meaning to pick up the new Harry Potter. Mostly because my kids are all into it. Last year I got a hold of one of the "Prisoner of Azkaban" movie scripts so they could read it in class and they were beside themselves. I've never seen such a thing.

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  21. Hey i would be thankful if you can lend me the book for 3 days .

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  22. Crawled out of bed to tell everyone that I'm not dead (yet), just a horrible viral infection and a stuffy nose and an on and off fever :( Updates will happen as soon as I can look at the keyboard without the letters swimming in front of me. Please don't go away! :)

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  23. You have 24 hours. And then we will all go away. So, c'mon now...

    ReplyDelete

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