And finally, my much hyped column for iDiva (The Times of India’s new women’s portal) is out. It sounded good on paper, and now I am all oh, there’s too much pink, my picture’s too dark, this is all so silly. But well, pink silliness and all, it’s mine.
What’s it about? Well, it’s Indian chicklit. That means Sex and the City, minus the sex. It also means that the Pulitzer is not happening, not yet.
What does it say about me?
Amrita Mahale is a hitchhiker at heart and an engineer by accident. Now cynical, now soppy, her fickleness in matters of the heart is matched only by her eavesdropping skills.
When she’s not dissecting the loves and lives of those around her, she is trying to learn how to get a damned plane off the ground in the Department of Aeronautics at Stanford University in California.
You can read it here. Contractual obligations dictate that I can’t cross post entire articles…but a few words from the first article should be kosher.
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My brother and I share a passion for a literary genre – fantasy. He loves Harry Potter and I adore love stories. It is unbelievable what creative minds can do with unreal elements: wizards, goblins, spirits and soul mates….
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I happened to show this article to a few (mainly male) friends. They disagreed with it vehemently and said I was too cynical for my own good. Yes, even the ones who don’t cleanse and tone their T-zones twice a day.
Hmm, what do you think?
19 responses so far ↓
987s // January 19, 2009 at 6:56 pm |
Well, you are a cynic. However for that kind of ‘love’ to exist I think you need two submissive personalities and no ambition!
storminacup // January 19, 2009 at 7:30 pm |
Cool! Congrats!
btw, the first link has an extra http://www.http.com in it…I still managed to read one before it dawned on me that I am not in the target audience
neha // January 20, 2009 at 6:33 am |
in.cred.i.ble!
Nishant // January 21, 2009 at 4:56 am |
Like 987s says, yes, I think you are a cynic, but I think you’ve done a decent job of explaining away where that cynicism stems from, and I should know. Now here’s another “male friend’s” view – believing in love is like believing in God in some ways… you don’t have to. And saying you believe is saying you admit you’ll never be able to define it even if you feel you’ve found it. IMO, it is not the belief in love or soul-mates that leads to heartbreak (when the bubble bursts), but the search for resultant insurance and indemnification that does! Like in matters of faith, I don’t understand the need for people to find an answer to the question of existence. Be an agnostic?
anon // January 21, 2009 at 1:08 pm |
i’m totally not judging but isnt it like a sellout – from your blog to idiva?
Amrita // January 21, 2009 at 4:58 pm |
@anon: Well, what they are paying me just buys me two slices of pizza here
So, sellout? no not literally.
I thought i could have some fun writing really girly stuff, that’s all.
storminacup // January 21, 2009 at 9:10 pm |
WordPress’s automatically generated related posts told me to goto “Paris Hilton Robbed Of $2m” !
Amrita // January 21, 2009 at 9:25 pm |
@PPS: I just saw that. Why is WordPress judging me too?
storminacup // January 21, 2009 at 10:06 pm |
WordPress is judging you due to an algorithmical error. Everyone else is just jealous
Amrita // January 21, 2009 at 11:51 pm |
@PPS: Aww…no wonder I said I missed you. Wait, or is it the other way around?
anon // January 22, 2009 at 1:35 am |
to be fair, yours is the pick of the pink-lit,
or chick-lit or whatever you call it, on that site.considering the rest of the stuff is a very pink self-help book mostly…
Sherene // January 22, 2009 at 10:37 am |
Now, all you need to do is move to NYC and what we have here is a Carrie v2.0!
How on earth did you get signed up for this?
Amrita // January 23, 2009 at 12:08 pm |
@ anon: Thanks, and I dont think iDiva aspires to be anything else.
@Sherene: NY plans might have to be put on hold. Looking for a job close to stanford itself now. Akshay is applying to the Stan GSB.
How did i get signed up? I would love to say my fame has spread far and wide, but no. A friend who works at ToI showed my blog to the idiva team and they got in touch.
Sherene // January 23, 2009 at 6:04 pm |
Good stuff.
So lots more of the good weather in CA for you then. Good luck with the job hunt, what do you have in mind (apart from part-time journalism, i.e.
)?
Addy // January 24, 2009 at 1:27 am |
You know, for all that BS about calling it chick-lit, I swear by every letter written in “The Devil wears Prada” as much as I swear by every piece of punctuation in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”.
I, for one, do believe in the kind of romance where the most important thing in a relationship shifts from sense of humour to poetry.
After all, a man needs a muse to amuse…
PS: You *have* to get them to put up a better picture of you.
Amrita // January 24, 2009 at 7:14 pm |
@Sherene: Looking just at startups now. Fingers crossed.
@Addy: Is the picture that bad?
And poetry, huh? I have never seen that side of you!
Addy // January 27, 2009 at 2:53 am |
Come on!
1. You know the best part of your anatomy than can be spoken of in public is your Maggi Noodles Hair. A picture is not Amrita if the hair isn’t there.
2. Honestly, it takes a Cindy Crawford to carry off a mole. Even after that, she needs airbrushing by those Women’s magazines.
3. Dolce and Gabbana don’t go with hippie-chic ever. This makes it look straight out of the Palika basement – I mean the parking lot and not the shopping centre!
4. Did you go to one of those tanning parlours for this picture? The shade of the skin is so fake.
5. Do you *really* want me to go on?
Sh%t! I am so critical!
Amrita // January 27, 2009 at 8:15 am |
wow addy! you are pretty passionate about this, aren’t you? Ok ok i will see what i can do..
Prasun // March 29, 2009 at 10:38 am |
since when you started “adoring” love stories.
I always thought of you as the hardy tomboy kind…….. aloof from the pangs of love and hate as also fantasy.
for the rest here:
As for the photograph………. I am amazed that this paranoid girl has a photo to put up in the paper……… otherwise one has to work with a slipper and imagine the rest!