The Venus Flytrap

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


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.