I have been tagged by Dipali. I know, it had to happen some day. I remember reading blog posts of people who were tagged. Posts like “10 secrets I don’t want anyone to know”, or “10 statements that will get me into big trouble”. Thank God, I would think, I don’t have to do anything like this. I have too many people pulling my leg already, without the whole world joining in.
But all good things come to an end. Now that Dipali has tagged me, I feel like a student caught out by the professor. “Hey, you in the back row, doodling away. Can you tell me blah blah blah.” I am usually pretty good at coming up with startling insights at these moments (startling me most of all). Unfortunately, the professor would then decide I was actually listening closely all along, and take my random statements seriously. That cannot be good, surely..
I am not very sure what I am supposed to write about, but Dipali’s post is about 10 things she hopes to achieve by age 60 and 10 things she misses. That sounds great, though it does mean that (a) I have to think (always a bad sign); and (b) I have to talk about myself. Worse, this sounds dangerously close to those questions they ask you in interviews – “how do you see yourself in 10 years?” Much as you’d like to say “retired, in a deck chair on a private beach” or “definitely as your boss’s boss”, you mumble something and hope it’s all good.
But I am going to do this right. Of course, I shall first negotiate. Is it okay if I just mention five of each? I really don’t want you to think this is some kind of Statement of Purpose. Here we go then.
Five things I hope to achieve by age 60 (in no particular order) :
- Switch to Linux. Sometime, someday. I shall format my hard drive and erase every last trace of Microsoft. That day will surely come..
- Time travel. Or walk on the moon. Surely I can hope, right? No? Well, then. How about, Visit Antarctica?
- Write a book. A funny, bestselling book. Or maybe a book that no one will read. I will make sure it has a beautiful cover though, and hope people will buy it because it looks good on their shelves
- Have a full head of natural blond hair. I already have a few strands of gray hair, and strangely, they look more golden than gray. At this rate, by sixty, I should have a full head of blond hair without dyeing anything. On the flip side, no doubt, my brain will also asymptotically decline to blond-levels by then.
- Hmm, I can’t think of anything else now. I know, it’s the blond hair. So I shall say what I see young women on TV contests say whenever they stop thinking: World Peace.
Five things I miss (in no particular order) :
- Climbing trees and spending lazy afternoons on the tree. Not that I still would not do it, who knows, I just might. But sadly the trees around here are quite unclimbable.
- Bunking class to go to a movie. I never did this in school. Definitely had my priorities backwards, as you can see. Now it is too late, of course. No? You think I should join some course just so I can bunk it? Good idea. With full fellowship, of course.
- Imitating cuckoos’ songs. It gets funny when they start singing back to you, thinking you are one of them. I must have broken quite a few cuckoo hearts. Sadly, the cuckoos I meet now are of the human, not avian variety.
- Being two feet tall. Seriously, I wonder how I saw the world as a kid.
- Stuffing myself with pink cotton candy. I was at this game the other day and spent half the time watching the candy seller slowly approach my seat. Just when I thought, here we go, I get to eat candy, he moved away. I watched in horror as he kept moving all the way to the other side of the stadium. Now you know why I walked out at half-time in disgust.
I now get to the part where I tag others. I shall tag Kamini, tabula rasa and Siri. And all of you lurkers, you are all tagged! Please tell me about yourselves
Oh, it is perfectly okay if you ignore the tag. I know, it’s hard to do these things. On the other hand, if you do write, I will be reading. You see, it’s hard to write these things, but it’s great fun to read them 
Tonflourbroab
Savvy Aggarwal
Maria
Arindom Borah
erydaytrams
Oops, I meant in the next decade you complete, not necessarily sixty. That’s for an old fogey like me. I’d better clarify this in my blog. Please do revise, Lekhni!
oh! I am seeing Dipali’s thots are only for the next decade and I sound so old in my hopes that I cant adjust it for 10
so I will keep it that way
That’s fine, Dipali, Sixty is just perfect! I can hope to achieve one thing, and one thing only, in the next decade: clean up my room
Lekhni, for me, cleaning up my room is always a ‘work -in-progress’- I wonder if a lifetime will be enough for me to do it in, there’s always something else I’d rather do!
is it okay if i also take the “next ten years” stipulation and implement the “clean my room” exit clause? (if that’s not enough i’ll stretch it to “clean the entire frikkin house”).
ah well. i have about 24 hours of in-flight time coming up over the next few days and this will give me something to think about when i don’t want to think about the things i ought to be thinking about. i should warn you though, i have a decent track record of twisting tags to suit my own ends
and about the alma mater photo – those were the days before i went digital, so i do have the picture albumed away somewhere, i just don’t know where. maybe i’ll find it when i clean the house.
Just when I was dozing off quietly in my corner, you caught me! OK, Professor, what is the deadline for this project?
It was nice reading your list.
Kamini.
Dipali has tagged me too.the problem is that half of what she’s written applies to me too. I have to start thinking or cut paste her responses.
Dipali: I agree. I really try, and sometimes I even reach perfection, but sadly it falls back to earth pretty shortly
Tabula Rasa: I have long ago abandoned my ideas of cleaning the entire house. That is way too much of an effort. Anyway, there is other person who will make it look in no time like it has been ransacked.
Kamini: No deadline! I am looking forward to what you will say (and tie it to South India).
Padma: Maybe you should write about books you want to read, places to visit, movies to watch, songs to listen to..just what I can think of, my brain is not fully awake yet
Amen to #3 on your ‘by the time I am 60′ bucket list. I shall be waiting…
(blogrolling you)