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



Sign up for my newsletter: The Internet Personified

21 July 2006

And I'd give up forever to touch you

(yes i know it's a new template. yes, i know you probably hate it. humour me anyway. it's so PURTY! and pink! if someone could tell me how to yank up the sidebar so it's not all the way down there, i'd be most grateful.)

Yesterday was a sort of special day for me. Four years ago, on the twentieth of July, I became an *ahem* woman. "Happy unvirginity anniversary!" I told the mirror happily. Is this not something other people remember? Because everyone I told yesterday was all like, "Duuuuude, you keep TRACK of these things?" And I looked back at them, equally amazed and said, "You don't?"

Anyway, back to me. So as I dressed with a little extra care--hey, these things happen only once a year--I started also counting on my fingers how long it had been since I last got lucky and I have to tell you, because that's what I do, it was a VERY long time ago. Please don't make me tell you HOW long though, because it hurts to talk about it. Soooooo, take one unrvirginity anniversary and divide by how long it's been since said interactions were last practised and that would make me, well, revirginised. Hymens grow back right?

But I was focussing on the positives as one must do in these situations when you realise that you're going to die a nun and all your internal organs are shrivelling up at the tender age of 24 and you have, in fact, forgotten how to kiss, let alone the other more jazzy stuff, so I went out. My lovely friends from out of town are back--Pieces from Mumbai and Seema from UK--and we had a long catch-up session in the evening. In fact, this evening Pieces is throwing a dinner party which should be nice.

By the time the evening rolled to its close, I was so tired that I could feel the individual muscles in my body going HOME. SLEEP. NOW. But Small and Lily called and said they were picking me up and we were going to Lodhi Gardens for a Dada music concert and they would harbour no excuses and since I was too lazy to drive and I am, essentially, a party slut, I said, "Okay!" almost involuntarily. They were all dressed up, but luckily I have a job where I can look semi-decent, I only looked about medium-horrible and not as bedraggled as I normally would after a long day. I even caught a few boys doing a once over as I fluttered through the crowd, but they could've been looking at Lily, who was wearing this little black dress. Actually, damn, they probably WERE looking at Lily.

Dada music is this mixture of house and psy, but it was only incidental, because the main purpose of this party was the fact that it was outdoors, with this humongigantic fans spraying wet mist everywhere with this psssssssffffffffftttttt sound. (go on, say it out loud. You know you want to.) It was at Lodi restaurant, which is lovely and I should totally go there again with a lover, if that ever happens in this lifetime. (Sorry do I sound bitter to you? You would sound bitter if you ran out of fingers to count the number of months since you last HAD a lover.) There were shiny, happy people laughing everywhere and even the loos had these artistic marigold petals sprinkled in the corners--they sort of contrasted with the wet toilet paper hanging out of the pot, but I'm sure at one point they were beautiful.

I had two vodkas and cokes and found many people from my past lurking in corners, one of whom was my cousin, looking very svelte and delectable and to whom I said, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do" most wisely. Only she said, tossing over her shoulder with a giggle, "That leaves me with a VERY wide open playing field." Hmph. Children these days. I guess it doesn't help that this was one of the few times I saw her when I was completely sober, normally I am so piss drunk at our reunions, U have no words to give cool, big-sister type advice, a role I realise I enjoy muchly.

I also met Golfer Ex, chilling at a table with Lily and I went to sit with them. His friend asked how we knew each other and I laughed and said we used to date. Then I glanced at him and said, "I was a good girlfriend, right?" half-seriously, but he was completely serious when he said, "You were a fantastic girlfriend. The best. You have a talent. I was the one who screwed up." I loved him then, I could've married him. "Then why does no one want to date me?" I asked. "Because you pick the wrong guys, perhaps?"

His friend leaned over then and whispered into my ear, "I think he's still sweet on you." Hmmm.

Small had vanished in a flurry of school friends somewhere or the other, but by the time the party started clearing out, around two or three in the morning, Lily and I were ready to collapse, so we went looking for her. She was sitting on a swing with a couple of people and asked us to hang on till she said goodbye.

Oh and a girl came up to me and said, "You kissed me at TC and we were never introduced!" "I'm sorry," I said, "Did we hook up and did I not call you?" Small and Lily exploded somewhere to my left, but the girl said, in complete seriousness, "No, no, on the cheek! And I don't know your name! I was with another friend of yours!" (It was fun though, mindfucking. And I did introduce myself prettily after that.)

Then we stumbled into Small's car and homeward and this morning I woke up and found a rat in our kitchen.

Ah, will this excitement never end!

31 comments:

  1. "Ah, will this excitement never end!"

    And don't hope for otherwise..

    Loved your post. Reminds me of this friend who was dying to get laid (too risque?) coz it had been too long...long enough for her to have hooked up with her ex and break up again the next day...

    Those good ol' days! :-)

    P.s: Your template is nice..overtly "girly"..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like your new template...

    Take Care
    Michael

    ReplyDelete
  3. I second Michael. Thumbs up on the template. Uplifting and pink.

    ReplyDelete
  4. the noo template rocks, hot blogger!

    ReplyDelete
  5. PSSSSSSSFFFFFFFFFTTTTTT!

    Yep, that was fun!

    Love the new template.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hmmm....
    we areharbourinhg a rat in our kitchen too...
    its the mumbai rains i guess!
    but my poor roomies are dealin with it coz i'm home in bangalore now..
    nice template

    ReplyDelete
  7. sidebar is way down coz the panel widths arent right. somewhr near the top of ur template code page - theres some place where u set the width of the main panel, sidebar etc... reduce the width of the main panel 10 at a time, till ur sidebar appears in the right place. lemme know if u cant fix it, will explain more clearly
    And i still hate the pink flowery template. but its ur blog...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love the new template. But not the comment space. Eww - boxes!

    ReplyDelete
  9. nice post as alwats, dropping in after a while.

    btw were u at TC for the bandish Launch a couple of tuesdays bak?

    ReplyDelete
  10. If only you could teach the Times Metro Supplements to write this way.

    We HAVE to comment on the new template? It's better than white on black. That's all.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think the template kinda grows on one- I didnt like it at first but at the end of the post, it was alright. In fact, I kinda like it now.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Do they make a greeting card for that anniversary? : )

    ReplyDelete
  13. The 20th of July is Carlos Santana's birthday.
    It is also the anniversary of the first moon landing.
    It is also the day I was hatched.
    I'm glad someone had sex on my birthday...God knows, I didn't! :o)
    Nice blog.

    ReplyDelete
  14. lol! u hav an exciting life!
    and yes, i do remember my unvirginity anniversary.

    ReplyDelete
  15. perspective: nothing is TOO risque for this blog, thankfully.

    teleute: ahhhh pinky. there used to be a diamond comic called pinky. whatever happened to diamond comics i wonder.

    michael: just for that, i like you too :)

    shoe: thanks! uplifting is good, i like uplifting. that's why i wear underwire bras.

    shivam: :) this greeting will never grow old.

    rohini: tolja. i did it too, in synchrony.

    sri: ah yes, but delhi rains are of a quiter, more gentlemanly manner. so no rat-inducing. i don't know why it's in our house either--we have nothing to eat but instant soup, coffee and pickle.

    smoochy: those aren't flowers, i realised later. they're asterixes (asterixii?)

    jasmine: you can still think outside the box :)

    almost: why yes, yes i was. were you? you should've said hello, i was bored outta my skull.

    arthur: i don't think an entire population of toi readers would be interested in hearing about my lack of a sex life, though!

    jane: it's a little bit like me. we grow on things. like fungus.

    mint: NOOOOOOOO. but they totally should. like happy sex day or something.

    psycho: if it helps, my last birthday i didn't get any either.

    sudha: you do? fabulous! let's form a club!

    ReplyDelete
  16. the template, it's beautiful. your heaaarrrt will tell you when to change ;)

    the fountain fans get too wet for this humid weather. was at thai wok for dinner... when we left we looked like we'd stepped out of a rain dance.. sheesh!

    ReplyDelete
  17. so i got hooked on horsey's blog.
    and now your's. something in the genes here?
    the pink is extreme. but in a surreal, mountaindew ad, 'extreme' sort of way.
    so is something brewing with golfer ex? tell all.
    living vicariously is about all i use the internet for.

    ReplyDelete
  18. im in!
    lolling at ur comment to shoe-fiend!

    ReplyDelete
  19. hey, just been introduced to your blog... cool stuff.. as u can see, am just a wayward poet! cheers

    ReplyDelete
  20. The pink and the girl kissing reference. It's hard to tell whether your blog just got girl friendlier, or guy friendlier. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  21. hmmm your panels aren't small enough. or you can make the main thing bigger.

    find this
    --#main{ position: absolute;
    --top: 150px;
    --left: 150px;
    --width: 600px;
    --background-color: #fff;
    --z-index: 6;
    --padding: 0px 0px 20px 0px;}

    Try making the 600 px into 650 or 700 px.

    that should work.

    you're welcome

    ReplyDelete
  22. yeah well, i should hav, but i dont think u wud rem me, last & the only time we met was a long long time ago. The first ever blogger's meet last year. if u do care to rem

    ReplyDelete
  23. What a lovely template...
    Love it :)
    Enjoyed the post too. Happy anniversary!! You are right -there shud be greeting cards for the day.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hey, TTGs blog aint working. 25worldcountry.wordpress.com . It says he deleted it. Hmm... strange. It was so interesting. Tell him so if you ever get in touch with him.

    ReplyDelete
  25. this is seema who is back in the uk. why is my name seema eM? is it to mirror the ubiquity of my actual name? o well, priyanka would've been a safer bet, or jane doe. :) don't like the template and sorry we couldn't spend too much time, i wasn't back for long anyway. but do take care, keep writing and remember, no matter how lonely it feels, hymens do not grow back! and kissing is like swimming, you can't forget it. there! train your sights on shehensha akbar (work it out, you know why i've called him that), he seems like a nice bloke too.
    later gator.........

    ReplyDelete
  26. Hymens grow back.. ?? Is that true? You must be joking :)
    Strange.. I never heard of that.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Rat in the kitchen!

    There is never just one :(

    Sleep with a stout stick nearby. They creep and creep, and when you sleep, they bite and bite.

    You need a pet cat to watch your back.

    Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

    ReplyDelete
  28. at least attribute the "well-behaved women" quote - otherwise you'll be accused of plagiarism.

    ReplyDelete
  29. If you've got to make up stuff, make up more interesting stuff than this please.

    ReplyDelete
  30. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for your feedback! It'll be published once I approve it. Inflammatory/abusive comments will not be posted. Please play nice.