And now - The wish list.

So if you read the previous post,here I am with my own updated wish list. Here goes nothing.
1)My own book in the Crossword Top Ten Books list or atleast somewhere in some corner of the store.I don't know at what point in my life, I realised that writing was the thing for me, just that it was a bit too late and beyond the stage I could have done my degree in English literature.But then, you either are a writer or you are not one.So once in my life I am gonna finish the long incomplete book of mine and chase (threaten at gunpoint) some publisher and strike this item on my wish list.So watch out for me and drop a mail to my id to pre-order your copy now.
2)To be independent.That does not mean just financially independent, but to be independent of where the financial independence is coming from.To have something of my own with my own timelines, my own rules, my own methods, my own purpose! And yes something that is so much fun that I never want to quit it anyday.
3)A Kerala trip.If you are a regular reader of my blog (I love you guys), you know by now I have been dying to go to Kerala for some years.It is still on the wish list. I hope I do visit God's own country before I visit God himself!
4)More time for myself.This is something I wish stays on my wish list for ever, and I die wishing I have more time! Do you really think we will ever have enough time for ourselves? I hope never!!
5)A library. What? Did i unwish this too last time? I must be crazy.I hope I have enough money someday to build a private library for myself and I can spend hours holed up inside while the wifey and the kid mess up my life outside those secure walls of my own private library. I even love the sound of it - my own private library!!
6)A bicycle. A car I unwished last time, so I need some other wheels I look cool on and something I can take out alone and escape whenever I want to! Yup a bicycle. I only wish I could wish the whole climate and atmosphere required for bicycling though.
7)A small change in most of the people's lives around me, which happens solely because of me, and goes without saying, happens for the better and doesn't make them wish on their wish list that I was dead.Maybe just entertain them with my writing or something!
8)Sponsoring some child's education someday.Yes, I am back to the altruistic thought and I hope to fulfil this wish soon enough!

The Unwish list....

Hmm...Does the title sound interesting? If not,then definitely the post will.Now, this is about that eternal wish list we all carry with us - something that defines our ambitions,our limits,our dreams and our purpose in this circus called life.We are not really sure when we created this list,but for most of us it is somewhere in our 16-18 age.The 10th-12th board exams defining our intelligence (sadly in my beloved India it does) and suddenly many of us wake up to huge expectations of being engineers and doctors (and basically being money spinners).The spotlight sweeps us off our feet and we make one huge wish list(cmon,don't pretend you were never into this!).And sadly,I still see people taking decisions based on that stupid wish list.And worse,adding to it day by day.Well,as usual I have to rebel against this one dimensional flow. So here is my unwish list,or things I strike off my wish list today,realising I don't really need these and there are much much more important things to strive for.So here goes,at the risk of sounding like a saint:
1)The Mercedes Benz.Give me one guy who hasn't at one time in his life thought of getting this car once in his life and I will show you a guy who never shagged once for a fantasy woman.So this car is off my list now.I don't need it,swear.Driving is a pain in mumbai and I am in love with the autorickshaw now.
2)All the gaming consoles in the world.Well,I was almost there.Media,Sega,PS2,PSP,Nintendo GameBoy and was almost on my way to add the XBoX 360 to this collection.But sadly,I grew up,yup even I do that sometimes,if only much much slower than the average male.So now, I am off this.
3)Hotel food.I am done with this.3 years in pune and I have eaten as much stuff outside as I can and as varied as possible.I was the sort who was always game for food outside,but now,puke!!
4)A private library.Hmmm,this is not completely or permanently off the list.Maybe moved down the list.One book a month is the best I can manage nowadays with work and other distractions.So,a library I won't need anytime soon.
5)Loads of portable hard disks.I have a 500gb currently,and I don't know when I am gonna be able to watch all the movies in it.I think it will suffice till one of us is dead.
6)A suit or actually a life which permits and demands wearing it.Trust me,this has been on my list even before Barney made it popular to suit up.But,now comes the understanding that suit life would be slavery to some big company or brand and I aim to be free in a couple of years soon.So a suit I won't be needing now!
Ohh,btw,if you bored now for sometime,that I go on and on about simplifying life and making it unmaterialistic,do come back next sunday.I will come up with my modified wish list :)

The minimalist approach.

Again, one of those common traits of humankind - stocking it all away. Clothes,money,foodstuff,and generally,stuff! My cupboard is full of clothes dating as old as upto 8 years.Everytime I clean it up,I take them out thinking about throwing them away for good,and slowly I find something good about each and every cloth and keep them away again.It can be anything - a good memory, a good luck superstition, a general fondness for the colour, a challenge to make the tight jeans fit me again and so on and so forth.Same goes for the books, the movies on my HDD, my age old songs and PS2 game CDs.
Its time to lose weight - mental as well as physical, to let go of the baggage for once and for all.It is like a twin change - to let go of the past and not to hoard too much of the present.So now I am going to be on a throwing (or better giving away) spree.It will be my bit for someone less fortunate as well.It starts with the clothes,will move on to the books(this is really gonna hurt - I might think of a lending scheme or something) and someday for sure- will give away a lot of money (let me hoard it just once,GOD!)

Mar 22 to Mar 28 - Towards a healthy lifestyle!

Oh my gosh! It has been a month since I have put something in this blog of mine.I am trying my best it just doesn't become another of those countless new things I start and give up for the lack of patience and because of boredom.Hell, but that is not what this post is about - I mean yes, I am going to write regularly from now on - I don't need to make this promise a part of this blog, it would be to convenient and too short a post.
Ok! So the title explains a lot now. I have gone from 74-75 kgs something (when I returned from Australia) to a fat 86 kgs (two days back)! I have been like fantasising about losing my fat and giving some great shape (something decent, nothing 6-absy or a John Abraham sort ass!) to my body. And now, when I look at it - it looks virtually impossible (yes I do look at my body naked in the mirror - who doesn't?). So now, I think I should start with the baby steps. I will just make a list of my steps here - not that I promise to do them all - but yup I am going to start with the first step from tomorrow itself. So here goes my kinda workout :

1)A good 20 minutes walk everyday.Not the kind involved in taking me from A to B for a purpose - but the kind aimed at improving my health. I read somewhere both are different.
2)Cycling! As soon as I buy a cycle and get another fool to accompany me in this venture.
3)Some game - maybe atleast table tennis (what did you expect?).
Yup - thats the steps I think are realistic for now - might some day graduate to weights and squash and sex!

Feb 7 to Feb 13 - The king of good times!

I don't know if this happens to you as well, but I have this peculiar tendency of putting off things - specially good things or plans.Like the trip to Surat to one of my closest pals I have been planning for a year now or the trip to Kerala I have been promising myself for about 2-3 years now.Then again, buying those books, or the XBox, or other such stuff to spoil myself.I keep on telling myself I will do this later, like I have been waiting for a signal or something to enjoy this, or do something with my life such that I feel like I deserve to spoil myself. But as is life, it just won't let you stop and catch a breath for yourself, or let you enjoy the good times if you wait for those times to come by.So here I am today, promising myself all the things I want - I desire - and doesn't matter if I don't deserve.This year and the next and the next (atleast till I am married or dead - any difference in the two?) are going to bring in the good times now! Let God frown upon me - time to follow the devil. Ahh yes, this doesn't include things I have given up on - like daaru or the ciggy!

Jan 31 to Feb 6 - might be the beginning of something

The week has been nightmarish.A close one has been in an accident and life suddenly consists of nights spent in hospitals, trips to doctors and different clinics, fetching reports and having the lesson imprinted in my mind again and again - Life is short.I am waiting at a specialist for a particularly long period of time.I am getting a little angry at the wait - telling myself - we should be attended to first as our case is more critical than many.There are like some 40 patients in queue (thankfully, my number is 14).The wait stretches to around 1.5 hours.The patients keep on coming, joining the queue, some in tears, some unable to muster those tears even.I suddenly feel so defeated.Can we really change anything? Is it always going to be like this? Patients having to wait in queues, a few specialists for like so many of them needing it (the ratio must be pathetic), tests carried out at different clinics...this list can go on.How do we change this? Where do we even start? More importantly, will life ever be painless or pain- proof? There are many things we can never change - the uncertainty of life, the certainty of death, the inevitability of pain.But maybe some things can be changed as well.Like the ratio above, the accessibility of these facilities, the expense incurred by the common man in the process.It is a huge task to even think about changing these things - but - I do know, I will try and play my part in it.My calculator says I have roughly around 1200 weeks minimum - might be just enough to do something about it.

Jan 18 to Jan 24 - The teetotaler

I am looking at it currently. The bill of my latest binging on alcohol. I am thinking again, those same guilty thoughts, of how I get transformed from a pennywise, 'always looking for his money's worth' gujju to a pound foolish, 'I don't care what another peg costs' drunkard in a pub. This time its a bill of a posh pub in Powai. Saffron spice, is the name, I recall only by looking at the bill. It says we had 12 pegs of Smirnoff and 20 pegs of Bacardi which put us back by a whole 4320 bucks. Nopes, it wasn't a group meeting of the alcoholics anonymous, just me and a friend of mine (refer to the entry - Patching up). Is it enough already? I have been telling this to myself for more than 2 years now. Putting away such bills as reminders, to remind me of the disgusting feeling next day - a day spent in hangover and itching my hands (have this allergic reaction when I have had a few too many) and telling myself again and again how it was just a waste of a few important thousand bucks. So, here goes now, my single most important change this week impacting my whole life now - just 60 ml of alcohol every fortnight. What? You thought I would go from those 12 odd pegs to 0 just like that? This is the single most thing I love, I can't give it up so easy. Infact I am thinking of editing that 60 ml to 90 ml even right now. But no, I will stick to it. And gradually some day, I will be the teetotaler I was...somewhere in my 11th std I think!!