The Venus Flytrap is my column in the Zeitgeist supplement (Saturdays) of The New Indian Express. Columns in bold are recommended reading, ones I am biased towards. :)
April 12 2008 — The City of Secret Sin
April 19 2008 — Is Marriage The New Singledom?
April 26 2008 — Infidelity Is In The Eye of The Beholder
May 3 2008 — Solo In The City
May 10 2008 — In Defense of Insensible Fashion
May 17 2008 — There’s Something About Amy
May 24 2008 — Waiting For The Dawn
May 31 2008 — At The Mercy Of Her Bite
June 7 2008 — No Love In This Democracy
June 14 2008 — The Great Indian Guilt Trip
June 21 2008 — Hoping For A Revolution
June 28 2008 — Between Bread and Betelnut
July 5 2008 — Pride and Prejudice
July 12 2008 — Idli and a Screaming Orgasm (or, Spicing Up The Menu)
July 19 2008 — Grace In Aliases
July 26 2008 — Surrendering To Serendipities
August 2 2008 — In The Mood For Nostalgia
August 9 2008 — Loosen Up And Love The Lungi
August 16 2008 — Paradise In My Pocket
August 23 2008 — A Photo Negative Heart
August 30 2008 — Mourning The Marina
September 6 2008 — “Domestic” Travel
September 13 2008 — Just Ask Jeeves
September 20 2008 — Dial M For Misuse
September 28 2008 — Going There And Going Back
October 5 2008 — Honouring Our Destinies
October 11 1008 — Piracy, Privacy, Popularity and Poetry
October 18 2008 — Ways of Worship
October 25 2008 — Earthbound
November 1 2008 — In Defense of The Open Mic
November 8 2008 — The Matriarch of Mattekellappu
November 15 2008 — For Fear, Or To Overcome It
November 22 2008 — A Toast To Sobriety
November 29 2008 — Putting The “Bra” In Bravado
December 13 2008 — Dentally Retarded
December 27 2008 — A Time For Inventory-ing
January 10 2009 — Die Laughing
January 24 2009 — Hunger
February 7 2009 – The Armchair Amourist’s Guide To Valentine’s Day
February 21 2009 - Songs In Another Language
March 7 2009 – Bearing Witness
March 21 2009 – Touching Souls
April 4 2009 – Surviving Venus Retrograde For Dummies
April 18 2009 – In Defense of Developing World Diva Hair
May 2 2009 – Healing, Subtle As A Scar
May 16 2009 – Sleepless In A City That Never Wakes Up
May 30 2009 - Viva La Diva
June 13 2009 – Queer Pride: Not A Private Matter
June 27 2009 – The Sadness And The River
July 11 2009 – Constant Clicking
July 25 2009 – Son of a Sun
August 8 2009 – Porcelain, Lately
August 22 2009 – Dancing With Eyes Closed
September 5 2009 – Original Instructions
September 19 2009 – Touche ‘Tache
October 3 2009 – The Hum Of Many Roads
October 17 2009 – Deactivation Drama
October 31 2009 – The Maladjusted Medium
November 14 2009 – New To The Neighbourhood
November 28 2009 – The Immortal Fallout
December 12 2009 – Other Types Of Joy
December 26 2009 – Year of the Aranya Kandam
January 9 2010 – The Unbearable Lightness of Peeing
January 23 2010 – Dropping Names
February 6 2010 – Her Perfect Equal
February 20 2010 – Certain Completed Geometries
March 6 2010 – My Bloody Valentine
March 20 2010 – Human Circuitry
April 3 2010 – Petty Change
April 17 2010 – These Unspeakable Things
May 1 2010 – SM And The Amazing Technicolor Magic Realist Life
May 15 2010 – The Artist Is
May 29 2010 – Places Called Home
June 12 2010 – In Song And In Silence
June 26 2010 – Is There A Holy Text As Hardcore As The Kavasam?
July 20 2010 – The Hungry Bride
July 24 2010 – Legendary Suckers
August 7 2010 – The Compulsive Creator
August 21 2010 – The Unbirthday
September 4 2010 – The Sound of One Hand Clapping
September 18 2010 – Hallowed By Thy Claim
October 2 2010 – Writ At My Wrist
October 16 2010 – Damsel in Dangerlok
October 30 2010 – The Flower Power Party Guide
November 13 2010 – A Postcard, For You
November 27 2010 – Forbidden Fruit
December 11 2010 – Old Tricks of the New Age
December 25 2010 – Winter
January 8 2011 – Unsentimental Fool
January 22 2011 – Doing The Sari
FAQ
Why “The Venus Flytrap”?
I needed a good name, and tossed a net out to my friends. One of them suggested “The Venus Flytrap”. Some years back, a quote from Tori Amos used to be part of my email signature, and this friend had remembered it: “I use innocence in my demeanour like a venus flytrap.” I had loved it then and I love it still. A woman of dichotomies. A walking contradiction.
I love the name of the column because it’s sexy, tongue-in-cheek, a little dangerous. It plays up the maneater persona (vagina dentata, hello?), something I am not, but which a stupidly large number of people seem to think I am.
Why do you bathe in gutter waters as though they are Ganges waters?
(No, really. The most wonderful hate mail I have ever received said the above.)
Because I can. And I want to.
