Category: Sonder

List of boxes I wish to tick in the near future!

Picture Location: Jal Mahal (Jaipur) : Circa 2016

In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, It’s the life in your years.

Abraham Lincoln

Recently, I had this feeling of what next I should do. And then I decided to create a list of 50 things that I want to do before I die. When I was thinking about it, I had so many things in my mind and for a moment it felt like, life is like a -to-do list.

Out of curiosity I also asked others. I got different answers from everyone but the interesting thing was that no one told me that they want to study or appear for some exams rather most of the people added that they want to travel or do some adventure sports, create a small library, build their own home and do something for underprivileged. I don’t know what to feel about this. Here are my 50 things I want to do before I die:

  1. Want to work for the Government of India
  2. Help and guide 100 underprivileged students to appear for Civil Services Examination
  3. Want to write two books: one non-fiction and another fiction
  4. Want to work for GOOGLE and TWITTER
  5. Want to start my venture through which I can contribute to the society
  6. Start a small café where people can come and hang out or just read some books. The café should be green, full of art and beauty
  7. Do a degree from abroad
  8. Give a speech to an audience of a hundred people
  9. Visit all cities of India
  10. Travel whole India by Train
  11. Travel in a truck
  12. Want to go on a road trip from Kashmir to Kanya kumari and from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh
  13. Travel solo without any planning; just start from anywhere and go anywhere
  14. Want to have a drink without any hesitation
  15. Sleep under the stars on a road or a mountain without any fear
  16. Build a small cottage home in Dharmashala (Himachal Pradesh) and also make it a homestay for tourists
  17. Climb Mount Everest
  18. Volunteer at Golden Temple, Amritsar
  19. Adopt an animal
  20. Adopt a girl and provide 100 % funding for her education
  21. Travel at least 100 countries of the world
  22. Ride a bike and go on a trip
  23. Learn a foreign language
  24. Go on an island and stay there for a month without any outward communication and internet connection
  25. Sleep on the Beach
  26. Spend a night in a Tree House
  27. Participate in Floating lantern activity in Thailand
  28. Want to go horseback riding
  29. Want to do zip-lining, sky-diving, scuba-diving, and paragliding
  30. Go on a hot-air balloon ride
  31. Want to participate in cycling
  32. Want to have a nice romantic dinner with my spouse on the Eiffel Tower
  33. Jump-off a cliff
  34. Visit a chocolate factory
  35. Make chocolate from scratch
  36. Buy a Mercedes
  37. Travel to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bhutan
  38. Talk to a lot of strangers and write their stories
  39. Volunteer for ‘clean river campaign’
  40. Participate in road painting/road cleaning exercise
  41. Plant 1000 trees
  42. Do farming
  43. Do something for my village located in Azamgarh district
  44. Ride a bullet
  45. Learn guitar
  46. Go on a girls’ trip with some of my close friends
  47. Create/Direct a documentary
  48. Write at least 10,000 blogs before I die (This is my 93rd blog)
  49. Read 10,000 books before I die
  50. Stay in Varanasi and Sikkim for sometime

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go- T S Eliot

If you don’t mind, please also share in the comment what is the one thing you want to do before you die.

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An open slab of drain water lane on pottery road….

“Time is so strange and life is twice as strange”

Ray Bradbury

The beautiful pottery road passes the left side of my current house in Bengaluru. The road is visible to me from my balcony all the time. It’s been more than a month, I noticed one strange thing on pottery road. All open drain slabs were recently repaired and cemented by the workers but this one slab was kept open just behind this huge tree with full of a green canopy. Almost every time, I click a picture of this tree whenever I see it. Every day I notice a few people coming and just getting down into the open slab and filling water in different sizes of the pot. I believe these people live in a nearby slum area.

Whenever I saw it, it compelled me to think about the people who don’t have water for daily use and fill it from this somehow unusual drain water lane. This thing brought two kinds of emotions: the first one-I felt sad that even till today people in our country don’t have access to water and the second feeling was about the Indianness way of dealing things that is also called juggad. How did someone get to know that there is water source just below that one slab, how did those people decide not to cement that particular slab, how everyone in the slum area got to know about this water source and they started coming and filling water from there? And how come no one from the road administration department didn’t care to know why one slab of this drain water lane is still open?

Whatever is the reason, this open slab of drain water lane is acting as a ray of hope for people leaving in nearby area and also pottery road finally living up to its name.

THE BIG BANG TRIP-PANGOT

http://www.thebigbangtrip.com/
I don’t know from where to start. Someone from Vision India shared me about the big bang trip. I was also thinking to go on a trip where I don’t know anyone. So, I applied for the trip. It started from April 20th and ended on April 23rd. We went to Mahrora village near Pangoot, Uttarakhand. I had so many things to tell about this trip. I am not able to decide how and where to start.

This trip is must for those who really want to explore the world and also understand human life. I would recommend this trip to people who really want to understand others and learn life lessons.

  1. MET WITH AWESOME PEOPLE ON THE TRIP- This was the best part of the trip. I always had the curiosity to meet with new people to know about their lives. This trip acted as connecting link between me and others. There were seven people on the trip-Pallavi, Raghu, Meghna, Priyanka, Bhavna, Nisha and me. All the girls were from different age group. We stayed together and had a lot of fun for three days. The trip was organized by Chandrabhan and Chetan. They were also funny guys. They are the founders of The Big Bang Trip. It is a really great idea to go on these kinds of trips. Some people think but only some people implement the idea. We also met with one instigator Ashish there. He is traveling solo for last two years. I saw a lot of dedication and courage in his effort. He left his corporate job to become a full-time traveler. We also met with Shagun Singh, the founder of Gilli mitti India. She is also very bold and courageous person. She also left her lucrative corporate job to focus on farming. She has decided to settle down there only. That area is still inaccessible as well as very remote. She left everything in the city and went to the village to pursue a sustainable path. The stories of these people are really inspiring and provide directions to others to take the bold path in their lives.How I can forget the cute 🐕- Kanwar Singh. He accompanied us for two days. People on the trip fell in love with the dog.

     2. LEARNED SO MANY SKILLS- I got      the opportunity to learn so many skills    there:

  • We learned about Car Cob Cottage House.
  • We also prepared cob from clay, hay, sand, and water.
  • We learned about earth-bag houses.

3. TREKKING TO WATERFALL WAS AMAZING EXPERIENCE- Trekking on a difficult path resembles the happenings of life. Our life is a difficult trek where we need to just move on whenever problems/hurdles come in our life. This trek was a very small but it was adventurous. After trekking for some times, we just saw the serene and pure water, which was flowing from the mountains. We were able to hear the ringing sound of falling water. It was such a nice feeling to be there that I didn’t feel like returning back from there.


4. BONFIRE EXPERIENCE AND MUSIC- In the starry and cold night, we experienced the warmness of bonfire. There were music, fun, and Masti.

5.INTERESTING ACTIVITIES- Chandra Bhan has also created some interesting activities for us. It was really fun doing those activities. It helped in getting to know each other. Not only this, it helped in making the environment lighter.

6. BOAT RIDE IN NANITAAL WAS FUN-  We took a boat ride in Nani jheel on the last day of the trip. I was really surprised to see the cleanliness of the lake. The water was cold and pure. I also noticed amazing thing there. There were three religious shrines( Devi maa temple, Gurdwara, and Mosque) from three different religion present near the lake. There was also Tibetan market which is related to the   Buddhism.

7. ANTAKSHARI IN THE BUS WAS REALLY ENTERTAINING- We played antakshari in the bus. It was really refreshing and enjoying.

I have so much to write about this trip but not every feeling can be expressed in words. The road trip with unknowns not only teaches us about life experiences but also inspires us to explore the wonder of the world. So, get ready with your backpack and start traveling.