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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6 May 2008

Delhi, Open Letters To,

To The New Fancy Busstops:

Dear New Fancy Busstops,
You are indeed very new and very fancy. But you are also clogging up traffic. And you are distractingly shiny. I also suspect you are related in a distant cousin way to the Metro digging happening everywhere, especially the one which has transformed the landscape of Saket, where I used to live very happily only a little more than a year ago. So, while I have nothing against you, could you take your new shininess to less busy roads than the Chirag Delhi flyover intersection?


To People I Have Met In The Last Four Days:

STOP TELLING ME I'VE PUT ON WEIGHT!!!

(*ahem* sorry for yelling.)

To The Very Rude Bouncer Lady At Urban Pind:

Asking for a plastic glass to take my drink away in does not equate to the response: "This is not a Fountain Pepsi place" in a very snotty tone. You've lost yourself one customer. And I hope people who read this online will desist from patronising Urban Pind where CLEARLY they don't even ask for the basics in customer relations, ie, politeness.

To My Friends:

Thank you for making me feel like I never left. It's been so, so awesome. Parties abound, socialising abounds and I wonder like I always do when I'm here, why I ever bother to leave.

To My City:

Thank you for having excellent weather, and raining and being so different and yet exactly the same.


Sigh.. Only nine days left.

23 comments:

  1. How they built that new road in Saket is simply fantastic though. I love the Metro!

    It's never occured to me to ask to take away a drink from a bar. "Bhaiyya yeh pack kar do please," haha!

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  2. You see so much more comfortable in Delhi. Why did you ever leave? And now that you don't have a job to tie you down, why live alone ina strange city?

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  3. Yes. YEs. YES! The Urban Pind Bouncer lady was rude to me and my friends as well.
    (But one feels one might hold a grudge because she wouldnt let 2 guys and one girl in. Heavily hmphing.)

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  4. you're lucky, you've good weather in delhi. But don't you hear anything about south india's weather? here I'm feeling that globe is really warming..haha

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  5. Urban Pind.....sounds like an interesting place!

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  6. Delhi is a place that leaves u a bit... in love with it!!

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  7. Shouldn't the last line read:
    "Nine days left!!!" ?
    It's always great to get back home(even though I know I'm going to be steam-cooked alive once I get back to Madras). For all its flaws, it's the place you grew up in. It's home. 'nuff said.

    And thanks for the dope on Urban Pind. Will keep it in mind next time I'm in Delhi.

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  8. saket has changed and so has tuglak road, you can't turn right there.

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  9. You should come back to Bombay for one damn good reason, the bouncers at Zenzi are never, ever rude.
    They will take the trouble of pouring your drink into the plastic cup and will sometimes nudge you to the door like a gentle mother that chides you when you stay up past your bed time, but they will NEVER be mean.
    This is why Bombay is home!

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  10. Not to mention great weather, great food, great roads....errr, okay. Great people then. Enjoy Dilli but come straight back!

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  11. Yeaa yeaa.. Delhi rocks! Living in banglore for the last 3 years, and missing delhi all the way feels like a child left along.. but am coming back for good.. ;-)


    P.S. - Am not really happy, just that am really high, and am missing delhi

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  12. erm perakath, plastic glasses are for closing time...its good bar etiquette its not take-a-way

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  13. hey Em Thats a part of the writing so much that u rediscover undiscovered undercurrents that pull them to upper ,bring to light the tingle of writing feelings that happened over the years.......
    some are experiences virtually private to us...........
    they protrude the inner self much to the outer as they do get more inside and germinate a new embryo ........

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  14. Haha are you the same anonymous from the Singapore post comments? Thanks, didn't know. We usually just down our drinks.

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  15. meet us!!! and nice to know you're in town even if we dont meet!

    yes.. the roads do dazzle...

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  16. What about the people you have slept with?

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  17. your blogs look pretty interesting .. you seem pretty interesting .. hmmm .. interesting !

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  18. Urban pind sounds dead interesting lol..

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  19. Saw your article and photo in HT Cafe.
    Good to put a face to the blog I regularly read :)

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  20. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
    i love you too
    my city
    how i wish I could be with u again
    sniff
    sniff sniff
    baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

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  21. ooooooooh. that urban pind lady makes me rage...

    i was in n out, up n down those friggin stairs to make them hazaar phone calls and getting people in. and i was constantly asked to stow away my glass on tha lil hole at the bottom of the stairs just in the door. i hates her lil face.

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