Pages

Monday, July 21, 2008

The Bucket List

It's quite some time since Sandeep passed on the baton to create my own bucket list. And he is making sure I don't forget about it.. hmmm

The tag is basically based on the movie The Bucket List and tells you to make the list that you want to do before you kick the bucket. When I saw the tag, the first thing that crossed my mind was to write a will!! That was the time amma was dragging me to banks to add the nominee name or to change the joint account holder, some things that I was never bothered about till date. And at that time there was one question in my mind - 'what if something happens to me?'. I know it's a pessimistic outlook,but these are some reality that needs to be addressed as well..

Anyway that apart, my wishlist would look like this.. I am not looking at the practicalities here.. Just that when you dream, dream really BIG..:)

1) Travel the world

This will be one thing that tops my list.. I would like to travel around the whole world and enjoy the beauty of each and every place may be in all seasons.. hmm Why that smile? Is it too much to ask for? Do you really think so? Then may be I will stick to only the 1000 places listed in the best seller "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" What say? :P

In fact, I'm not very much interested in the much talked about tourist spots. In all my trips I look for peace, serenity and natural beauty and so mostly I aim for the off the beaten track kind of places and of course there are plenty of such places.. So now the question is where do I start? The easiest for me will be to start with India - places like Valley of Flowers, North east regions, Kashmir,..etc. But then I realised I haven't visited places like Rajasthan , Lakshadweep , Andaman , etc and don't want to miss out on that either.. And I don't mind revisiting places like North Sikkim in another season..

And coming to outside India, I have visited only a few places in Europe. There are lots and lots of places which were in my list - always missed the flower show in Keukenhof, the Black Forest, Prague , Greece , Switzerland , Scotland ,.. Then places like Australia , New Zealand , Egypt, Kenya , Malasia, Maldives , Thailand..

The list will go on and on.. Only thing now left is planning. May be I should decide to leave my city once a month and leave my country once a year.. hmm tough.. Still I would try.. So anyone interested to join me for this expedition?

2) Go on a road trip with no predetermined destination

Yeh this is also related to the previous point, but when I say no predetermined destination I mean it. I have always felt that the road traveled is much better than the destination reached. But many a times we forget to stop n enjoy the beauty coz we have a predetermined destination to reach. When we used to travel in Germany we used to do this "Hop and Go" stuff. There if we take a ticket to the destination you are free to travel in any of the trains and the train frequency is 20 mins - 1 hour depending on whether it's within the city or outside. So whenever we saw a beautiful place we just got down in the nearest station and roamed around that place clicking away to glory. Once we are done we just hopped on to the next train and continued our journey.. This used to be real fun and I have got some really beautiful snaps in the process. I would like to do the same again especially in rural areas.. I am sure the life there is going to be really interesting and even more just the idea of setting out on a trip to no where is so exciting.. :)

3) Build a house of my own..

It will be my den built according to my OWN design.. It will have everything that I like and will be my comfort zone.. And did I tell you I like gardening too? So it will be a small house with a BIG garden.. Yeh a beautiful landscaped garden full of flowering plants of all sorts, a good lawn with a hammock to enjoy the evening breeze won't hurt either.. And yes my backyard will have a kitchen garden too..This can cater to the day to day needs of the kitchen ( Not sure whether this is really my interest or mom's influence)

4) Own a pet

My house won't be complete without my pets.. And what all should be there? Of course dogs will be the first choice. There are lots of breeds that I like - Golden Retriever , Coker Spanial, Lasapso , Pug.. and of course how can I forget Sony - So German Shepherd , labrador ,.. The ultimate will be if I have one of each of these breeds :) And yeh I like goats as well.. Yes u heard it right.. that explains my virtual pet also.. As a kid I used to play with the small ones from my neighborhood n God they were real fun.. and I should have cats n kittens too..they are so adorable.. What about rabbits.. They are sweet too.. :) And birds? Nope.. I feel so sad to cage them.. Instead may be my garden will have a bird bath.. Yeh that will be just fine :)


5) Have a baby

I am obsessed with babies and so this will come naturally to the list. So I'll start with a sweet cute baby girl.. Why baby girl? coz then I can deck her up with all those pretty frocks n hairdos n what not.. But then she will be bored alone..In that case twin girls will be just right.. wow two cute identical twins..double fun it will be..:) On second thoughts why to limit the number? I will have as many as my home can accommodate.. Oops then I should keep this in mind while designing my house.. But then there is one glitch.. I like these babies to remain as babies for ever and never ever grow up and lose their innocence.. Any remedy for that?

6) Swim in the sea and drive a car in b'lore roads

ha ha basically I'm looking for some courage here ;) I can swim in a nice calm pool how much ever deep it is, but in a rough sea where waves are coming over you is something different. For that you should have more faith in yourself.. :P
Same with driving in b'lore roads. I used to take my car in my hometown, but once I came to b'lore I literally froze. Now even if I go back home I hardly take it out. Again just a matter of practice, but I should take the first step.

I think it is better to stop dreaming now :) Too long a list will only be a burden ;) Let me first work on these and make it attainable :P

Now whom to pass this on? Most of the people whom I visit have done the 8 things tag which has a subset called "8 things to do before I die". So it doesn't make sense to tag them although I would like to see their exclusive list. Anyway how about tagging some of the new friends.. Probably it's a long list, but still..

So the tag goes to

Ms Cris
Sharanya
Bindhu
Alex Mcone
Nikhil
Shreejith
Roshan
Arun Paul

In addition I also tag

Prashant - He has already done something that most of us would like to do. Went for a Solo bike ride across India- 35 cities, 18,000 kms and lots n lots of experiences.. Would surely like to what crazy things he would like to do next ;)

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

thnx for doing this ... and yeah ... nicely done :)

road trip and trains ... doesnt seem to go well :) ay be u shud drive. its so much more fun :)

swimming in the sea is an amazing experience. u shud try it out :) and driving in blore. yucks! is that something u really wanna do???

Usha said...

#1 and #2, me too!! me too!!!! :)

again, as always with your posts. loved the honesty in expression. :)

Nikhil Narayanan said...

Hi
Swim in the sea -itharaa Mermaid o ? ;)

Head to Kovalam.Hit Eve's beach.Hire a surf board. Tie the string to ur hand.Walk into the sea.Jump on a wave.Surf back to the shore.
Swimming nadannillengilum, this is a safe bet you should be trying.
Been there, done that.

Spelling il h illathathukondu, shamelessly expecting that taggiyath enne alla enn. :D

~mE said...

Sharanya is me ?? lol Even it isnt me..ill play along :)

(wordsrallihave.blogspot.com)

~mE said...

And bucket list is a wonderful movie :)

Anonymous said...

Next time we travel, you are driving.. ;)

mathew said...

1) and 2) will easily fall in my bucket list too..I have never got tired of travelling...One thing i regret most is not travelling within India..will surely do it once i get back...

'Go on a road trip with no predetermined destination'

We used to do it all the time..theraa para nadappu..;-P

Sadhana said...

heyyy nice wishlist.. I would like to join ur expedition :D n ya, u planning to start a kindergarden is it? ;) Looks like that... That would be the best idea.. All age kids will be at ur home.. U ll never have grown up kids at home ;)

Dhanya said...

@ sandeep : Thank you for making me think :P
Train was just an example I used. I have gone for many road trips, but stopping whenever you see a beautiful sight depends on the driver's mood. Some of them will be too enthu to drive or hit some speed limit that they forget to enjoy the beauty around :(
Swimming in sea - I have tried n failed :( That's why I want to do that again.. n driving in b'lore - I know it won't be something that I'll enjoy butstil I want to do it just to reassure myself that I haven't forgotten driving :P

@ usha : Yeh let's plan a trip soon :)

@ nikhil : mermaid aayittalla.. just a matter of courage. if I fall in the sea I shouldn't drown na :D

hmm 'h' vittupooyathaanu. If you don't like it then I'm not forcing you.. just that we would have loved to see your wish list too..

@ Sharanya : You can play along, but thanks for doing the tag so promptly :)

@ sini : But we won't travel in b'lore city limits. Outside is ok :)

@ mathew : Yeh travel I think is the most common in everyones wishlist :) pinne tera para nadappu won't fall under my #2 :)

@ sadhana : he he u r always welcome. Yeh that's the best option and is always there in my mind. Actually I was about to update my post with that :) But the prob with that is they will go home in the eve :( or may be that's better coz you will get a break at the end of the day :P

Nikhil Narayanan said...

Ayyo! Nothing like that.
Njan ezhuthaam.

Jayashankar said...

No.3 is cool; big planning is going on in my head for my house. I read books and talk to architects. I am renovatin my house...
Earlier I had asked you about your entire kids name being girls...Now I got the point. Hehe

Unny said...

Doing a Photo Exhibition of your creations. Doesn't that occur to you?
Happened to see some of them in the other blog. Good work!

cheers.

Dhanya said...

@ Nikhil : Yeh that's better :) looking forward to your post

@ Eashwar : Wow that's really great. You are so lucky.. Do put up a post about ur experiences and ofcourse a snap of the house :)
n yeh don't u think it's a valid point :P

@ Unny : OMG that's not even there in my wildest dreams for the simple reason that I'm not at all serious about it. Also I have no idea about the technicalities n I'm sure most ppl won't be interested in plain Point n Shoot snaps. Btw, thanks a lot for stopping by :)

VENU.K said...

Hi
Was just wandering in cyberspace and happened to just drop in.And I liked what I saw.Good work.Might drop in occassionally to get a dose of bright thoughts.Regards and best wishes
VENU.K

Anonymous said...

Wow! I feel so good at seeing my name in that list if I say Thank You, it will spoil the effect. I am not reading your list now lest I should feel like using the same for mine ;-)
See how sincere I am with tags. Sniff its only my second one and I am touched!

Kshitiz Anand said...

Happened to come across your page thru Sharanya's post.
This is a super list with a super movie. I am sure everyone has something or on the other. Just that many do not know it or do not sincerely think about it.
:)

Sreejith Panickar said...

Hei Dhanya!

As you said, I have already mentioned this shortly in another post. But it is great to know that you considered me for tagging! Would like to do a fresh one. Hope you will ping me when another one comes! :-)

Anonymous said...

Good Lord I finished the tag now in my blog and came to read yours. Boy there are so many similarities! We rock :-D

CandidConfessions said...

Wow, you have inspired me to think of my bucket list now! It slips my mind that I just have these cravings to do but don't have the list!
Meanwhile, long since I dropped by your blog, boy, are you doing a great job or what!! I love you blog more than ever now! :)

hope and love said...

hmmm.. true wants..

Bindhu Unny said...

Hey Dhanya
I've completed my bucket list. :-)

ap said...

Bangalore Driving..Cmon u are not serious!!!!
Babies that never grow....actually very nice...My Mom is one who is addicted to that thought ...


And Tag...yes I will do it... :)

Dewdrop said...

Hey,

Thats a cool bucket list. Include me in the first one too. Hope all your wishes come true. And yeah, twin girls would be fun as long as there are babies and u can doll them up. :)

Dhanya said...

@ VENU.K : Thank you for dropping by. Hope to see you more often :)

@ Ms Cris : he he with such a long readers list you are sure to have a Tag mela in the future :) glad that I'm one of the first to start it ;)

@ Kshitiz Anand : Thanks a lot for your visit :) I haven't seen the movie. But I can very well assume that it should be great :) Yeh this tag really made me think :)

@ Sreejith Kumar : Yeh sure I'll give you another interesting tag :)

@ Ms Cris : he he for sure we do :)

@ Candid Confessions : Hey yeh pls do make your's. Would love to see ur list.. n thank you for those nice words. Hope you would be around more often :)

@ hope and love : Yeh they are :)

@ bindhu : Yeh that;s so nice of u. n yeh we do have similar wish lists :)

@ ap : Yeh I'm serious abt b'lore driving. I know it won't be an enjoyable experience but surely that'll increase my confidence level :)
he he yeh babies - I'm so happy to hear that there is at least one more person in this world who shares the fantasy :P won't that be good if someone discovered some medicine for them to remain like that?
n yeh looking forward to ur tag :)

@ Richa : If this is not spam, I'll think abt it

@ Dewdrop : Looks like we can plan for an all gals trip with so many candidates :)

mea culpa said...

Just happened to visit your blog... Worth reading...

Cool bucket list....
After redaing this blog... My bucket is in workshop....

Prashant said...

Dude, me done too!

Anonymous said...

:) inspiring wish list...May it come true soon..Interesting blog..Will visit again to read the "A hate post" again:)

sumanth said...

Hey really nice one U have inspired me to write one.

Deepa said...

travel the world would be my top wish too :) just wondering didn't see U.S in your travel plans. ingottekku varan plan ille?

Dhanya said...

@ mea culpa : Thank you for the kind words and I hope you will come back again :) And I what happened to ur bucket? Take it out ;)

@ Prashant, ap : Cool.. Thanks :)

@ nimis540 : Wow thanks a lot for the wishes n thanks for visiting :)

@ sumanth : Yeh please do. It's long since you have come up with a post.

@ Deepa : If I can get a visa easily I don't mind ;)