Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan's Blog, page 131
January 25, 2016
Today in Photo
Back from Jaipur which is great for literature but not so great for actually, you know, READING. I'm getting reacquainted with my books again. Call The Midwife was a show I loved, and I've always been curious about the book it was based on, Jennifer Worth's memoir of living and midwifery in London's East End in the '50s. My fingers are too cold to type much more, but I'll add that this is also part of my reading more nonfiction resolution for 2016. Memoir counts right? Totally. #bookstagram #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge
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January 24, 2016
Meditations on the art of reading
I can't remember when I first went, but going to the World Book Fair with my mother has been a tradition since I was old enough to be able to leaf through the pages of a book. The fair, one of the oldest in Delhi, would have already have been on for a decade before I was even thought of, and when we went, my mother and I, it was an already established tradition. With November, the Trade Fair rolled in, all fancy state stalls and different things to eat and poke at, with spring, the World Book Fair, halls and halls and rows and rows of books, all laid out in front of us, all usually so much cheaper than buying them at bookstores.
I imagine my mother made two or three trips, once with me and then a few more times on her own, but perhaps I'm only projecting on her what I would have done myself had I been saddled both with a small child and a love for books. She has always been enthusiastic about our trips together, we made it a point to check out the children's books at every hall—from Chinese ones made of thin paper and illustrated with happy dolls and teddy bears under “The Chairman” to the glossy hardback Soviet books, each illustration a watercolour and taking up a whole page. One glorious Fair visit, we bought a set of children's encylopedia—less boring than in sounds, because each volume had little stories accompanying the facts. (It was from that I learned that lightening will strike the highest place first, so the safest place for you in a storm is inside your car.) The stall selling it didn't have a full volume for sale, only display, so I had almost forgotten about it when they brought the huge cardboard box to our door, something that probably set off in me my love for online shopping today.
Now, of course, we attend as co-adults, as an author, I get discounts at my publisher's stalls, and where I don't, my mother bargains, which is frowned upon, but usually works in her case. (I never have the guts to try it.) This combination made me buy a pile of books that had to be carried home in two backpacks, and one large carrier bag, and filled up a whole line of my bookshelves.
Once home and unpacked, I regarded them. My to-be-read shelf already groaned under the weight of books I meant to start and finish and never did. I read a lot, but mostly on my Kindle, and mostly stuff that came out over the last year or so. My reading of anything that was written pre-2005 was woefully behind, my reading habits actually had taken a bit of a nosedive thanks to the internet and television, and it generally being easier to skim an article online than pick up a paperback. As a person who smugly never had to “work on their reading,” I realised I was going to have to “work on my reading” or lose that habit forever.
It's been easier than I thought—disconnecting. Long underused muscle memories come back when I curl up in an armchair, heater at my feet, holding up small print to the light. Sometimes (when eating dinner for example) my brain will flicker to the easier idea of watching a TV show instead, but I override it.
As a result, two days in and I've finished three books and am starting on my fourth. Books that held me enchanted from beginning to end, books I'm a little sad to let go. I see now why ebook sales are falling and paper books are rising again, there's a certain sense of closure when you've finally moved your bookmark from the last pages to the table and you close the book and hold it a bit and smile to yourself. I love my Kindle and I'm not a Luddite in any sense of the world, but in the past I used to have clear demarcations: ebooks for travel and paper books for home. Just as a plane is not the most comfortable place to sit with a wrist-breaking hardback, neither is a sofa with a purring cat on your lap and a cup of coffee by your side, the best place to press a screen as opposed to the organic bending and turning of your paperback's spine.
Readers are made, not born, but even then, you've got to work a little bit at every relationship—even the one with your first love.
(A version of this appeared in my column on mydigitalfc.com)
I imagine my mother made two or three trips, once with me and then a few more times on her own, but perhaps I'm only projecting on her what I would have done myself had I been saddled both with a small child and a love for books. She has always been enthusiastic about our trips together, we made it a point to check out the children's books at every hall—from Chinese ones made of thin paper and illustrated with happy dolls and teddy bears under “The Chairman” to the glossy hardback Soviet books, each illustration a watercolour and taking up a whole page. One glorious Fair visit, we bought a set of children's encylopedia—less boring than in sounds, because each volume had little stories accompanying the facts. (It was from that I learned that lightening will strike the highest place first, so the safest place for you in a storm is inside your car.) The stall selling it didn't have a full volume for sale, only display, so I had almost forgotten about it when they brought the huge cardboard box to our door, something that probably set off in me my love for online shopping today.
Now, of course, we attend as co-adults, as an author, I get discounts at my publisher's stalls, and where I don't, my mother bargains, which is frowned upon, but usually works in her case. (I never have the guts to try it.) This combination made me buy a pile of books that had to be carried home in two backpacks, and one large carrier bag, and filled up a whole line of my bookshelves.
Once home and unpacked, I regarded them. My to-be-read shelf already groaned under the weight of books I meant to start and finish and never did. I read a lot, but mostly on my Kindle, and mostly stuff that came out over the last year or so. My reading of anything that was written pre-2005 was woefully behind, my reading habits actually had taken a bit of a nosedive thanks to the internet and television, and it generally being easier to skim an article online than pick up a paperback. As a person who smugly never had to “work on their reading,” I realised I was going to have to “work on my reading” or lose that habit forever.
It's been easier than I thought—disconnecting. Long underused muscle memories come back when I curl up in an armchair, heater at my feet, holding up small print to the light. Sometimes (when eating dinner for example) my brain will flicker to the easier idea of watching a TV show instead, but I override it.
As a result, two days in and I've finished three books and am starting on my fourth. Books that held me enchanted from beginning to end, books I'm a little sad to let go. I see now why ebook sales are falling and paper books are rising again, there's a certain sense of closure when you've finally moved your bookmark from the last pages to the table and you close the book and hold it a bit and smile to yourself. I love my Kindle and I'm not a Luddite in any sense of the world, but in the past I used to have clear demarcations: ebooks for travel and paper books for home. Just as a plane is not the most comfortable place to sit with a wrist-breaking hardback, neither is a sofa with a purring cat on your lap and a cup of coffee by your side, the best place to press a screen as opposed to the organic bending and turning of your paperback's spine.
Readers are made, not born, but even then, you've got to work a little bit at every relationship—even the one with your first love.
(A version of this appeared in my column on mydigitalfc.com)
Today in Photo
On our way back from the Jaipur Literature Festival, we decided to finally try a restaurant in the Japanese zone near Neemrana. We've always passed it and wanted to go in, but the timings haven't been right or by the time we thought of it, it was too late. This time though, we plotted Kuuraku restaurant in Hotel Hirohama on the map and made it a point to go there. It was closed but we begged, and they said we could only order two things so yaki udon and pork katsu it was. Best road trip food ever. #traveldiary
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January 19, 2016
Today in Photo
I WAS going to go to the Jaipur lit fest just for the parties and maybe bum around all day in a leisurely manner but then Huffington Post asked me to be the "roving reporter" and now my three days of lazy lit fest attending has been replaced by schedules, plans for stories and ridiculously early morning drives. I'm going to have such fun. In the meanwhile, while going over the schedule yesterday I saw the name Cornelia Funke which meant nothing to me but who K said was one of the best kids fantasy writers ever. We're reading Inkheart side by side, him in German and me in English (translation by my beloved Anthea Bell) & it's a very fitting follow-up to The Girl Who Ate Books because this book is alllll about book lovers. And adventures. Much like me tomorrow. #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge #bookstagram
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January 17, 2016
Today in Photo
Books about books have been a favourite genre since my best friend and I read Ex Libris by Anne Fadiman at 16 (& found the phrase "toasted mostly" so charming, we texted it to each other as shorthand.) Have been looking forward to Nilanjana Roy's The Girl Who Ate Books as a result, because the conversations Nilanjana and I have had about books have always been vastly entertaining. I'm not disappointed: this is my childhood in books as well, and every adult who was a child clamouring for more stories will love it. (there's memories of grown up reading too, but I haven't reached that far.) Read, therefore, and recognise yourself. #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge #bookstagram
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January 16, 2016
Today in Photo
Juuuust about enough of a sore throat and a cough to justify lying in bed all day today with a book and a sleeping cat. David Mitchell is eminently readable, another introduction to my "favourite authors" list by K, and The Bone Clocks is no less. Already the passages sing, the epicness sprawls, and the language is so light and easy you're halfway through before you know it. #bookstagram #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge
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Today in Photo
Taking me a little while longer to read The Man In The High Castle by Philip K Dick, because it's not my preferred genre, but it's an incredible book. I watched the TV show based on it, but the book isn't the same at all. Except I guess, the basic premise: it's a world where the Nazis have won WWII. Watch the show, it's fantastic, but also read the book. #nowreading #250in2016 #readingchallenge
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January 14, 2016
Today in Photo
Just when I was about to step into spring, winter returned with all the vengeance of the old gods. Huddled up under shawl, next to heater with a pain au chocolat, filter coffee and David Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed In Flames, a book so funny I'm either giggling or forcing long suffering partner to "just listen to this." #nowreading #bookstagram #250in2016 #readingchallenge
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Bitesize: Why That Joke You Think Is Harmless Is Sexist
On the debate around this link: http://ift.tt/1Q7ZXgT
Storified by Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 12:00:44
People defending that "arranged marriage roti" meme thing: I'll spell out the sexism for you if you like. Raise your hand for questions.
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:45:46
a) It's essentially riffing off of the "women belong in the kitchen" trope, which is both BORING & VERY OLD & TIRED.
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:46:24
b) Not only is it saying WIFE = ROTIS it's taking it one step further: GOOD WIFE = GOOD ROTIS.
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:47:13
C) This assumes the "bad" wife, the one who marries for love (i.e SEXYTIMES) is only good for her bedroom skills.
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:47:57
Men, you should be equally insulted here TBH, because it basically equates marrying for love with incomptence
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:50:38
Also, the founder's response (my mum's rotis are fab, girls who make good rotis are more likely to have arranged marriages) um....
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:51:12
Arranged marriages are usually (I SAID USUALLY) transactional, patriarchal throwbacks. Women groomed to cook & breed.
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:52:05
Therefore, if your rotis are round & fluffy, that's been your training as a wife (the joke assumes), the other women untrained, wanton.
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:53:03
And that is why the joke is sexist. In other news, please don't send doodles of penises/your middle finger to editors. #protip
— Meenakshi Madhavan · Thu, Jan 14 2016 11:55:20
January 13, 2016
Today in Photo
Every year I think I'll keep better track of the books I've read and every year I fail. This year I signed up for Goodreads 2016 reading challenge and put my goal down as 500 which is ridiculous and since then have modified it to a more reasonable 250. These are books 6&7 (the others were on my Kindle and didn't photograph.) was meant to finish Until The Lions which is the MAHABHARATA in POETRY you guys but got distracted by one of my World Book Fair picks, and one of my favorite authors. Maggie brilliant as always in this story of childhood and mean girls. However Karthika Nair is our book club pick for this month so speed reading! #bookstagram #250in2016 #readingchallenge
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