Sunday, May 18, 2008

Bucket list afterthoughts

Sure it was ironic. Me and my friend were desperate to catch a light/comedy movie to dilute our moods stressed due to hazards of both work and QLC (for those of you who don’t know QLC its Quarter Life Crisis…the state of deep sh*t while you’re in your mid twenties!). We were determined to settle even for the worstly rated movie with apparently single or so star. However the ad of Bucketlist caught our attention and the strong recommendation from a friend propelled us to check two squares in the half empty plan.
The movie is off course is FANTASTIC. The cast, story, the dialogues and cinematography all could get a 10/10 (at least from me!) But I ain’t doing the movie review here. I am talking about Bucketlist. My bucketlist!

All of us dream. Some dream big, some small and some both. But each one of us have those desires pondered over say while in a boring lecture with open eyes, while staring at the roof during sleepless nights or while killing long lonely traveling hours. Things which we aspire to own or deeds which we are inspired to do. Places which we long to visit and events which we pray to happen…they all reside somewhere lost in our minds. Some are doable some are pure fantasies. Bucketlist is the to-do list which jots down all or at least main of such heartfelt unspoken dreams…before you kick-th-bucket!

Mine has action items as trifle as riding a bullock cart to as extravagant as sky diving in Alps. To soak in moonlight in Bhedaghat on a full moon night and to perceive the hues of the dawn while witnessing sunrise on a flight…
To attend the service and choir in Vatican and to spend a Christmas with a family with decorated Christmas tree, socks full of gifts and cake with hot wine after-treatment. To be able to understand and appreciate Shakespear’s classics and Khayyam’s verses when I read it. To listen to raag Malhar live on a lush green mountain top when its pouring and to attend a mushaayra with dardee company. I wait to dance night long garbaa in Navraatri with my dear friends and I crave to perform salsa with a good lead and to do justice to his skills. Beating my dad in a sophistical argument and singing along with my brother on the same stage have been my fancies since long.
I find the idea of a ride in a jet black limozine having a well dressed chauffer just as fascinating as that to cross the mustard or sugarcane fields on a tractor. To see a live cricket match when India is playing and to learn to play guitar. A walk in Valley of flowers in spring and meditation on the Pondicherry beach the rhythm of the gushing bay of Bengal waves on background…aah! When do I get to do these?

I yearn for sudden guests and informal gatherings. I love trips on the fly and am dying to be a part of an adventure with limited cash and lifts and last moment hush-bush! It would sure give me immense joy to cook for a dearone who’ll come home tired and hungry and say “I am dam hungry…can I get something to eat?” (Not many would vouch for m cooking skills so this one is a little tough to happen I know ;)) There is a whole list of dishes which I want to learn to make! Performing as a learned dancer was (and still is) a huge huge aspiration. I had even got a chance to join a dance group who were to participate in the dance festival which would take them all around Europe. Alas! My new job resuming dates and the dance festival clashed and this dream of mine crashed to pieces leaving me pensive.

Off course! Not all dreams come true but some do without giving you any warning. As a child I always wanted to come out with flying colors academically. To match the performance of my dad I had practically burnt midnight oil to do great in my matriculate exams. The day my results were out was the day when a dream cherished for about 10 years had came true. That day won me a different denomination in eyes of people in our circle. And expectations from me shot up rocket high. One dream come true had given birth to many more. Despite the times of failures, rejections and uncertainties met in the later years, ‘that’ day remains frozen in my life as a verdict of the good times I’ve had… My fancy of touring on bike came to reality when 10 of us close friends set out vroom vroom in a gang on 5 bikes on our biking trip to Mekedatu… On my way to Calcutta when I was informed to have been upgraded to Executive class despite having an economy class air ticket, I was enthralled by the grandeur of that suite and elite company which I hoped to get to do after maybe a few years of professional pursuit…

I was haunted with mysterious Egypt and thought I have to go all the way there to see how a real Mummy looks. Least did I know that I would bump into many of the mummies in London’s natural history museum itself! Glad as I was to have seen the mummies but also annoyed at the English to have stolen the same from Egypt at the same time! …Not being a party animal had kept me ignorant about the youthful face of the world. When I got an invite to celebrate the new year’s eve at one of the most famed parties in town, I was sure I would be like a foreign body. But to my surprise, I felt great! Different. Glamorous. But great for sure! Dancing crazy that night shed my diffidence of being ‘naïve’ considerably. I knew then what Cinderella must have felt!...

I can’t tell you what a rapturous moment it was when the blossomed cherry tree showered hundreds of its tender pretty flowers on me in Stratford-upon-Avon. A daydream I had treasured to bathe in ‘Saakoora’ had been granted all of a sudden! My friend accompanying me simply failed to understand the reason for my elation. What’s a big deal ..he must’ve thought? I wish I knew what’s a big deal myself…but it was! And my heart knew it…

My dreams…many are ticked(I don’t want to say crossed!) and many are waiting to be espied yet. I know there is a long way to go and its not enough to just dream but one has to strive to bring them into reality. It takes a lot of perseverance, determination, efforts and off course the backing of luck.
I am always a not go-getter about them and that’s exactly where I was hit! The crux of this movie shook my recently developed apathy and forced me to contemplate over my bucket list all over again. I am surely not going to wait till I am hit by cancer or heart trouble or alike. The clock is ticking and I am already late to book my seat for the Valley of flowers trek this year. You joining along? J

--- Pradnya Joshi
18 May 2008

P.S. For those who haven’t seen Bucketlist, it’s a beautiful movie starring Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman. If you have dreams, it’s a must watch!

5 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

yippee!!! valley of flowers it is :) !! sooper list da....i already have my pen ready to strike through things that are going to get completed soon >:D< so keep adding to the list :)
love ya!

12:42 PM  
Blogger Mayank said...

I can vouch for the culinary skills not being up to the mark!!! Just kiding! ;) However, there is room for improvement in both the cooking and writing! :)

The content madame is wonderful - the list has so many things that I possibily cudn't appreciate. I am not sure how mine wud look... Possibly the time to jot down (my roomie has done it too! ;)).

Not waiting till u hit the bucket is the logical thing to do but yet so many defer the items in the list until then! ;) I believe ur post might just goad them a little! :D

Hope for these comments, I don't elicit the Jack Nicholson response - "Nobody cares what you think!" :D

Keep posting baby! :)

6:15 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey, its quite well written and hope u will get a chance to fulfill all your dreams...just one problem - Bucketlist is manipulative and melodramatic movie. if you want to see real 'follow the dream' movie then watch 'Into the Wild'. It is based on true story and directed by Sean Penn. keep blogging

7:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A glimpse of your literary work and I was pretty much convinced to rent ‘The Bucket List’ DVD. Astonishingly sarcastic dialogues, wonderful exchange of dialect between the lead characters and a rather unusual combination of cynicism and optimism worked really well atleast for me.

On second thoughts, I was not really won over by the idea of reworking on my bucketlist. I would still go on to lead my life with a ‘go with the flow’ attitude.

- Signing off
(Stalker)

8:06 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Aapki is deewanagee pe...
deewana hue hum....
Apni khwaeishon ki 'balti' mein daal di maine....
Aapki khwaeishon ki 'balti' !!!

- Anonymous

8:10 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home