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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Showing posts with label I Need Help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label I Need Help. Show all posts

18 December 2012

Fear of flyover-ing

Yesterday, Good Thing asked me if I could drop him to the airport. Totally normal boyfriend-to-girlfriend request, but it sent me into a panic spiral. Couldn't we take a taxi together, I asked, hopefully. Totally worth the cost! Couldn't we just say goodbye in the flat? He looked a bit puzzled and said sweetly that it meant more time together, which is true, and finally, I girded my loins, bit the bullet and began to drive.

The problem began on the flyover. You know that fancy new airport flyover, the one that's designed to save time, the one that takes you from Chanakyapuri to the airport in a flash, and you're ready to check in, even if you left off leaving for the airport till half an hour before the stipulated time. Once I was on the flyover, my palms began to sweat, my heart started beating really fast, and I was in such a stranglehold of panic, all I wanted to do was pull over and die quietly. Cars whizzed past me, honking, probably shaking their head at the female driver, I had to change lanes, and even though it was a really cold night, I could feel the damp of fear-sweat under my sweater.

28 September 2012

By way of a small announcement

You might have noticed that I've changed the URL of this blog to my own domain. This is partly because of a glass of wine, a debit card and a late (as in not-on-time, not dead, touch wood) friend and partly because I had a thought. Thoughts are dangerous things.

Over the years, I realise my favourite part of this blog are comments and the reader feedback I get. So, as part of a little experiment--urban India crowdsourcing as it were--I'm throwing it open to you, every week as guest contributions. (Also, this means I have to write less, which, when you're on the internet ALL THE TIME, is a bonus, no?) I thought I'd do a little theme each week and see whether you guys had something to say.

So, as part of what I hope will be a LONG series (please? humour me?) the first theme is transport here in our cities. You could send me anything, a short piece (maybe 200 words?) a photo with a description? a song? about your experiences with transport.

Do you drive? Do you own your car? Do you like road trips? Met a chatty auto driver? Been felt up on a bus? Have a playlist for your ride to work? I want to know everything. WE (yes, totally speaking for all of us) want to know everything. Email meTweet to me! Facebook message me! Tell me your stories! Three of the best get posted with credit!

I want to do this on Mondays, so any time over the weekend would be awesome.
 

8 September 2008

Stuff I've been doin'

Sore throat, ergo bullet points.

* Pause is the new Zenzi. In my life, anyway. I started going, "Zenzi? Not so much." about a couple of months ago, and really, the less often I go there, the less I actually want to stay there once I do visit. It helps that I'm poor and therefore unable to spend my salary on Zenzi rent. It also helps, in an odd kind of way, that I'm no longer single. See, back in the day, when I went to Zenzi, I went because there would in all likelihood be someone there to flutter my stomach and fill me with a sense of possibility. P'raps after Zenzi, we'd all hang out into the wee hours of the morning and perhaps we would kiss and perhaps he'd send me flirty texts and so on. Many hearts have been broken at Zenzi. But now that I am comfortable (and, sigh, yes, slightly boring to read about) I don't need to do that anymore! Isn't it awesome? JC used to be a Zenzi type too, before you ask, in fact our very first date was at Zenzi which was annoying because people never leave you alone there, so our "date" turned into about six people and Vie and then Rock Bottom. And then back to JC's house where he played his guitar for me and I looked longingly at him--so pretty! Such a hot British accent!

In case you haven't guessed already, he isn't Indian, he's a firangi through and through, one of those reverse coconut types though, brown on the inside. It's interesting dating a firangi, it's also kinda dangerous because they very seldom want to settle down in India, usually they're just "passing through" and you have the risk of just being the "Bombay girlfriend" as there was a "Thai girlfriend" and an "Egyptian girlfriend", you know, something else to add to your Exotic Country Experience.

Although JC isn't the first firangi I've dated. Bombay is a multicultural city--and not just dipbrats either--and my dating list at the end of almost two years reads like the United Nations. Okay, not that bad either, but there have been quite a few internationals. JC wants to stay here though, in Injah, which is awesome and totally works for me.

* But though Pause on a Saturday night was excellent fun, they played stuff like Macarena and Sexy Eyes! (Which, yes, is painful unless you're in the right mood, which I was.) And then I asked for Mahiya, which still remains my all time favourite Hindi song to dance too and they played it immediately. Sadly though, there was a birthday party on, and the party throwers had brought their own DJ and soooooooooo, this entitled them to make long speeches on the microphone. This pissed me off HUGELY. I mean, sure, you got the DJ, but I'm fucking paying for my drinks and the atmosphere as well, so don't inflict ten hour long punchline-less Santa-Banta jokes on me coupled with Geeeeeeeeeeeeta-you're-awesome-happy-birthday! People are stupid and annoying.

* We now have a Sunday Night DVD Club (with its own Facebook group!). Well, by we, I mean me and Ira, who came up with the idea, and the boys we know watch with us, over bitching and complaining that we don't show "real" movies like Bourne Ultimatum or Fight Club or whatever. Ira and I take suggestions into consideration although we hold the ultimate veto vote (hey, just realised veto and vote are anagrams of each other!) and so far, there have been no complaints about the movies we choose. (Well, okay, perhaps not Becoming Jane, which should have ideally been watched just the two of us). Last night we picked The Hoax starring Richard Gere and I can strongly recommend it to anyone. It's about a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes by a writer who really wants to make some money and how he fools everyone. I love con movies. My favourites: 1) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells 2) Catch Me If You Can 3) The Heartbreakers. It's good shit, our DVD club, even though the boys are planning a coup and forming their own club with strippers and popcorn, I can't imagine it'll ever happen and we will rule forever. Amen.

17 April 2008

As I was saying the other day: one third psychologist, one third drinking buddy and one third sex goddess. What more do you need?

(updated: I will be in Singapore this weekend to be on a panel on blogging and user-generated content and so on. Wheeeeeeeeeeee! I'm so excited! I've never been to Singapore! The live feed is here and you can actually log in and ask questions to the panelists real time. Super fancy! See ya'll Monday.)


I Need Help! (Installment the first)


Hi eM

Straight away coming to the topic; I need a help from you….to fulfill my love.
I'm an HR executive, working in a s/w company in Bangalore. 7 months back I came across with a girls profile with photograph, she is also a Keralite like me, and now staying in UAE. The face fascinated me unbelievably, as somebody I was waiting for long. Yes…. I fell in Love, as never before, and now im spending a lot of time thinking of her.

But I really had no idea how to proceed. At last I sent her a mail (few months back), without revealing anything, I requested her friendship (I can hear you calling me ‘stupid’). She didn’t even reply.

Then I decided to wait till my parents start searching girls for me, but it will be tooo late, im sure.

Now Im thinking of sending a mail straight away, by revealing everything, but again Im afraid. I don’t know what she will think of me while getting such a mail. If I lost this chance too, I cannot approach her one more time.

Before finishing- myself; too poor in girls’ psychology, in school and college, I haven’t mingled much with girls, i don’t even have sisters.

I haven’t discussed this issue with my friends or room mates. First time I am telling it to somebody. I see you as a person who can help me. Please pleeeeese advice me, don’t ignore. Im waiting.

Hopefully
Sleepless In Bangalore


Dear Sleepless,

First, sorry for making you wait for so long, but you know, real life type things have been keeping me quite occupied (major news for you guys in the next post). But, see, see, I got around to it!

Okay, so you're in a bit of a pickle. You like this girl, but she never responded to your emails or anything and now you're in a quandry. Might I point out though that you've never met her? And to fixate on a photograph (really, because how much of this is based on her 'about me' section?) might be setting yourself up for disappointment, no?

Sleepless, dude, I see men like you all the time. I see them on my Facebook and Orkut friends request pages. I see them in my inbox and in my comment section. And, I'm sorry to say, I usually reject them. Because, hear me out before you get all mad and close this page, girls like to know they're more than just pretty faces. They go for good opening lines, for something that reveals that you've been paying attention. You might be in love with her, sure, but how does she know you don't want to just get into her pants?

Here's my advice, Sleepless. Forget this girl. Meet someone real, in REAL LIFE, perhaps at your job or through a friend. Spend some time knowing what makes her tick, what her favourite colour is and whether you like the same music and how many children you want and so on. Also, if the Object Of Your Affections (OOYA) is in the UAE, how do you expect it to work? Long distance relationships RARELY work, and only when the couple has a strong past, take it from a pro. If you continue to pursue her she could either a) ignore your emails; b) block you from sending any more or worst case scenario c) report you for harrassement. Do you want that? I think not.

Go get a drink tonight, Sleepless. Bangalore's a great city, I've heard and you won't meet anyone sitting at home surfing the internet.

xoxoxox

eM

(For advice, a bitchslap or a backpat email me: thecompulsiveconfessorATgmailDOTcom)