Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan's Blog, page 117
July 17, 2016
Today in Photo
Sunday Bloody Sunday at Coast Cafe brunch. Guys, this is the best Bloody Mary in town. I've never ordered Bloodies here before because they have such a fantastic gin and tonic menu, but I've had a craving all weekend and these hit the spot. Pictured with a pomegranate and basil martini and fried calamari. #delhidiary #whereieat #favouritethings
via Instagram
July 15, 2016
Today in Photo
Hauz Khas Village has a new shop called Treasures Of The Himalayas or some such. It may not even be new, since I am barely ever there but was today to work from a café. Full of the sort of stuff you'd get in Dharamshala or whatever, but I still bought this delicate floral solid perfume to slip into my purse. It's called (and I'm sure this influenced my decision) Heart's Erection. Boing! #delhidiary #wotibot
via Instagram
July 14, 2016
Today in Photo
Normally I don't like to read the Big Trend Book when everyone else is reading it (I'm hipster like that) but my mum got me this signed copy from Siddhartha Mukherjee's Delhi launch so I jumped on the bandwagon anyway. Non fiction isn't my jam, but absolutely devouring The Gene, because of its fascinating subject. Side note: what are cats for if not to prop up heavy books on their bums? #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge #bookstagram #mrmbookclub
via Instagram
July 13, 2016
Today in Photo
If you sort of squint, pretend the ac is off and this is actually what the temperature is, maybe don't go out onto the soupy air or feel the warm rain, it's almost like being on a hill holiday. Almost. Trying to make the best of the Delhi monsoon and also leaving my hair tightly tied up so I'm not confronted with the frizz each time I pass a mirror. #delhidiary #monsoon
via Instagram
July 12, 2016
Today in Photo
Reviewing next week: one of the books of the year, Stephanie Danler's Sweetbitter, a novel about the food service industry. I think what we eat and how we eat it has become a major conversation in the last five years, some of us are obsessed by it, and on that basis alone, very curious about this book. Look out for the review soon! #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge #bookstagram
via Instagram
July 11, 2016
The Extraordinary Shrinking Hermit
I haven’t left the house much these past two weeks. [I wrote this before I swanned off to Jaipur, but now I'm back and I feel like this week is going to be exactly the same.] And when I say “much” I mean that I have made precisely two outings — one was a three-minute walk to the local market and the other was a much longer drive to see a friend. Otherwise, I have been at home, “hermitting” as they say. At first it was a nice break from the week before where I had been almost hectically social, but as another weekend came upon me, I wondered how long I could keep this up.
I work from home and in those hours I stay in my designated office area, a small room off the terrace with a door I can shut. I usually emerge at lunch time, but sometimes, on preoccupied afternoons, I take a plate from the kitchen and retreat to my shed again. In the evenings, I move about three feet, from my room to the couch in the living room. There I read with coffee, or watch some television. Sometimes friends come over. Sometimes I cook. It’s a nice life.
Accurate representation of my friends and I
Such a nice life that I wonder if I ever have to leave again. There are some things you leave for — in my case, primarily to see people who might not be persuaded to come over. But I understand now why my favourite hermit JD Salinger didn’t want to see anyone. He locked himself up in his house for so many years, people assumed he was dead long before he was. I've been collecting stories of people like that these days, perhaps to cement my own views. There’s Olivia de Havilland, who played Melanie in Gone With The Wind. She’s been living in France for the past 50 years. People probably assume she’s dead as well (she just turned 100). Wikipedia has a list of famous recluses, including, but not limited to: Emily Dickinson, Harper Lee, David Bowie and Lauryn Hill. I’m not a recluse (yet) but it’s possible to shut yourself away from the world and not go crazy as well.
I used to be such a social person. I also used to have a job that required me to leave the house. Maybe those two went hand in hand. Once you’re out, you may as well stay out. Once you’re in: same.
As a writer, you often have to go outside to sell your books. I do that too — and I enjoy it. But to be a writer, you need to spend a lot of time by yourself, holed up in that one spot, your computer still warm from when you left it. I’m lucky that I’m seldom bored, loneliness is impossible when you live with someone and have pets and I enjoy long hours of doing nothing. I’ve brought Doing Nothing to an art form.
In short, I like staying in, staying at home. People ask me what I’m up to and I say, “Oh, nothing much” but every day is full of small observances. The dynamics of our three cats, I watch as one asserts his dominance and it creates a sort of domino effect among the other two. I have a personal reading challenge that I hope to complete this year. The other day, the roof of my study sprung a leak and so I had to move my writing to the dining table outside, which meant looking at the house a whole new way.
I wonder what my younger self would have thought of my life now. Likely, she’d have thought it sounds deadly dull. But how wrong she’d be.
(A version of this appeared as my column on mydigitalfc.com)
I work from home and in those hours I stay in my designated office area, a small room off the terrace with a door I can shut. I usually emerge at lunch time, but sometimes, on preoccupied afternoons, I take a plate from the kitchen and retreat to my shed again. In the evenings, I move about three feet, from my room to the couch in the living room. There I read with coffee, or watch some television. Sometimes friends come over. Sometimes I cook. It’s a nice life.
Accurate representation of my friends and ISuch a nice life that I wonder if I ever have to leave again. There are some things you leave for — in my case, primarily to see people who might not be persuaded to come over. But I understand now why my favourite hermit JD Salinger didn’t want to see anyone. He locked himself up in his house for so many years, people assumed he was dead long before he was. I've been collecting stories of people like that these days, perhaps to cement my own views. There’s Olivia de Havilland, who played Melanie in Gone With The Wind. She’s been living in France for the past 50 years. People probably assume she’s dead as well (she just turned 100). Wikipedia has a list of famous recluses, including, but not limited to: Emily Dickinson, Harper Lee, David Bowie and Lauryn Hill. I’m not a recluse (yet) but it’s possible to shut yourself away from the world and not go crazy as well.
I used to be such a social person. I also used to have a job that required me to leave the house. Maybe those two went hand in hand. Once you’re out, you may as well stay out. Once you’re in: same.
As a writer, you often have to go outside to sell your books. I do that too — and I enjoy it. But to be a writer, you need to spend a lot of time by yourself, holed up in that one spot, your computer still warm from when you left it. I’m lucky that I’m seldom bored, loneliness is impossible when you live with someone and have pets and I enjoy long hours of doing nothing. I’ve brought Doing Nothing to an art form.
In short, I like staying in, staying at home. People ask me what I’m up to and I say, “Oh, nothing much” but every day is full of small observances. The dynamics of our three cats, I watch as one asserts his dominance and it creates a sort of domino effect among the other two. I have a personal reading challenge that I hope to complete this year. The other day, the roof of my study sprung a leak and so I had to move my writing to the dining table outside, which meant looking at the house a whole new way.
I wonder what my younger self would have thought of my life now. Likely, she’d have thought it sounds deadly dull. But how wrong she’d be.
(A version of this appeared as my column on mydigitalfc.com)
July 8, 2016
Today in Photo
Bar Palladio, from all accounts, Jaipur's only place to be. It's a bit like being inside a Wes Anderson film. Excellent wine and food and compared to Delhi, positively cheap. That's our last night on our weekend getaway, back home this evening after being Glamorous for two days. #jaipur #traveldiary
via Instagram
Today in Photo
At the Albert Hall museum this very hot morning. All those arches are inset with little mottos on how to live a good life. The museum itself is okay, but the building is gorgeous. And all netted off to guard against pigeons. #jaipur #traveldiary
via Instagram
July 7, 2016
Today in Photo
And then a wander around Rambagh Palace at night. So beautiful! Of course, during lit fest time, there's always one party here, but it's always in the same spot in the back lawns so never really got a chance to explore the property (except once at 16, which was a thousand years ago) and we'll never be roooooyallllls. #jaipur #traveldiary
via Instagram
Today in Photo
Last night at Steam, a bar that's inside a literal train. I actually heard steam train sounds and a faraway whistle, but my friend told me that was just a hallucination. Also drank the 1857 Bloodiest Bloody Mary so all in all, an excellent evening. Drinks! Trains! #jaipur #traveldiary
via Instagram
