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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5 February 2007

Late Sunday Afternoon, Under Quilt Pontifications

* I swear, I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. Grah. Iggy was in town and she called me bright and early Saturday morning to say we should go out that night. I had only just stumbled home at 4 am from a birthday party so I was all, "Ya, okay, good night." Finally, when I did emerge, we went to Hard Rock around midnight, after which she wanted to go to a very swish club, which her cousins promised her she could get all of us into. Only, by the time we got there, no amount of name dropping and phone calling could get us anywhere, so we turned around and went home. Stopping off at a hotel so I could pee, and as I emerged from the loo, I heard a bright voice say, "eM? What are you doing here?" And there was a TC stalwart, whose name for the life of me I can't remember, but still, it was so nice to see someone, especially at the state of drunkeness I was in, with one strap of my heel broken off, so I was hobbling all over the place.

* And now this morning, afternoon rather, languidly, I'm lying around in bed in my boxers and a t-shirt, wondering how my hands smell of some very nice male cologne. What's odd about guys colognes is though, that they seem to be so much stronger than yours. So my own scent has completely rubbed off and vanished, but this one is so distinct, I swear I can identify it even. Let's see (here I pause to sniff my palms) Davidoff Echo, if I'm not very much mistaken. Mmm. I do like Echo, that and Isseymiyaki are right up there on my list of favourite smells off boys.

* Thanks to living with Shark Tooth, I've rediscovered biscuits. I never used to do biscuits before, they never seemed like proper snack type things, but he has all these fancy glass jars, with lids with clasps, and he usually has a supply of biscuits in them. I've taken to ordering the biscuits these days, so I'm all flashing back to my childhood. Especially with stuff like Bourbon (pronounced Boor-bon all over India) and Marie and right now, Nice (plain coconut biscuits with a sprinkling of hard sugar). When I was in boarding school, a favourite snack at tea or to round off dinner was the delectable bread (they had their own bakery, so the bread was always fresh) with a layer of butter and sprinkled liberally with sugar. No wonder I got fat.

* It seems every time I speak to someone from Delhi--well, two right this morning--they tell me about someone or the other getting engaged. Jesus. It all seems to be happening so fast too, like the end of an era. Was chatting with my friend Vir, hoster of most of our New Year's Eve parties and he was like, "Yeah, in a couple of years there will be kids running around at our New Year's dos." "I'm so not coming for this party," I told him. My grandmother actually called me, very bright and early in the morning, when I am at my most vulnerable, to ask me when I was getting married. I swear, one minute I was blinking bemusedly at the phone, the next I was hearing how I was getting too old to hold it off much longer and she knew some nice men and did I want...? No, I most certainly didn't, but really what is this world coming to, when you can't sleep off a hangover in peace without being reminded of your age and status on the marriage m arket?

* For some reason I woke up today singing Ace Of Base. And not just any Ace Of Base song either, I've been doing little booty shakes around the house to The Sign. "I saw the sign, and it opened up my eyes, and I am happy now living without you, I've left you, oh-oh-oh." I used to love Ace Of Base, I remember. I think one of the first videos I saw was All That She Wants (is another baby, she's gone tomorrow, but alllllll that she wants, is another baby, yeah-yeah.). Oh, and Meatloaf's Anything For Love. MTV had just come into India and we, the thirteen year olds, fed off the music videos with such passion. Me and my friends used to even act out music videos at home, with some appropriate song or the other in the background. Let's see, what else do I remember? Go West by the Pet Shop Boys, Wet Wet Wet by Erasure (fuck, I can't believe I remember that song! Open your eyes, I see, your eyes are open) ooh, and Runaway by Real McCoy. The songs in the early 90s were complete crap, but we loved them. And all of us developed identical matching crushes on Jpey Lawrence. Aw, he was adorable, with that middle parting that everyone in those days seemed to have. I wonder what happened to him.

11 comments:

  1. there should be a law against mothers and wise aunts doing unsolicited match-making, i tell u ;)

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  2. joey lawrence!!!!!!!! hadn't thought of him in years!!!! and there used to be a joey mc entyre also.....stay or something.....hmmmmmm

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  3. Hahah, just yesterday, my granddad tried to convince me to quit studying, return home, and get married.

    And that was enough to throw me into a 6-hour long state of psychotic depression, aided, of course, by my ever-helpful hormones and a commitmentphobe boyfriend.

    But if you were married, then they'd ask you to have kids. And I've heard that they stitch you up after you've had kids. That kind of horror is best put off until you're safely menopausal, in my opinion.

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  4. joey lawrence is now bald and was recently on this reality Tv show Dancing with the Stars. All evidence points to him being a nice guy and a good dad. no longer crush-able though.

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  5. hullo,

    given our extremely random conversation on friday night and my extreme boredom at the workplace, i found myself navigating dreamily to your blog.

    which is nice, i must say four foot eleven (i refuse to encourage her somewhat dishonest addition of an inch) has picked well.

    if you are so inclined, you may have a look at my absolutely terrible and now dead blog: http://jokerbob.blogspot.com

    yours randomly

    M

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  6. a) Your blog is awesome. Really honest and your writing style is great. Plus, your're all kindsa funny :)

    b) I'm getting married in March and super crazy about my fiance except when I read your super cool blog about the beach and the fruity drinks :)

    c) Props to your new design. The images are very becoming.

    I hope that the Compulsive Confessor will grace the Goddess blog with her gracious glance.

    Looking forward to e-friending with you

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  7. a. love the new template. you can have your pink and your readers can still leave this site with their vision intact.

    b. get iggy to come to mumbai and then watch me fly home. on a broomstick.

    c. so which gentleman's cologne lingers on thine fingers dearie? :)

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  8. oh my god..this is soo wierd..I'm seventeen and i know every single song u jus listed..!!! m not supposed to..!! (no wonder my friends tell me that i like old music..(none of them have even heard of these songs..!!)
    But i guess i know these songs thanks to cousins of mine..who are ur age by the way...anyway..cant really complain because i absolutely love these songs,however old they maybe(and even if my friend tease me to death about how 'uncool' i am..!!!

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  9. yes, the music of the early 90's...yes we all love them...

    ...so have you figured out how your hands smelt of very nice male cologne...:)

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  10. whaaa!!! the moderator did not allow my comment?!! boo hoo

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  11. How do you pronouce the word?

    Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
    Bour·bon /ˈbʊrbən, ˈbɔr-, ˈboʊr- or, Fr., burˈbɔ̃ for 1–3; ˈbɜrbən for 4 or occas. for 3/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[boor-buhn, bawr-, bohr- or, Fr., boor-bawn for 1–3; bur-buhn for 4 or occas. for 3] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
    –noun
    1. a member of a French royal family that ruled in France 1589–1792, Spain 1700–1931, and Naples 1735–1806, 1815–60.
    2. Charles /ʃarl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[sharl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation, (“Constable de Bourbon”), 1490–1527, French general.
    3. a person who is extremely conservative or reactionary.
    4. (lowercase) Also called bourbon whiskey. a straight whiskey distilled from a mash having 51 percent or more corn: originally the corn whiskey produced in Bourbon County, Kentucky.



    So says the dictionary !

    -PeAcE
    --WiTh
    ---GuNs

    ReplyDelete

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