A Dasvidaniya Things To Do Post

Inspired by the movie Dasvidaniya (Warning: Possible spoilers and a rather longish post ahead), I thought I’ll jot down a list of things I would love to do before I die. No, I have not been diagnosed with stomach cancer or anything remotely life threatening, beyond a diagnosis of asthma last year, the veracity of which I completely doubt. Still, considering my pure non-vegetarian diet and over reliance on Coke and Pepsi in place of water, I may have to rethink that pretty soon.

I did not want to make a fancy list of expensive things to do, like in “The Bucket List”, for which I’ll need Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to sponsor (Or better yet the bailout-happy US government). If I did, it would include
Scale the tallest mountain in the world (No, not the itty bitty 8848m Everest, but the 10,000m tall Mauna Kea)
Take a dip in the Mariana Trench
Walk from Calais to Cape Lopatka to Cape Town and back to Calais, all without a passport
Discover the connection between the gods of Mittani, Parsi and Aryans
Develop a commercially viable form of nuclear fusion
Develop a working model of psychohistory
Build a time machine to travel to the past
World peace

Okay, I admit, it may be impossible to bring world peace, but people always want to hear world peace to feel good about themselves.

In the end, I decided to copy paste (Ah, the core competence of an MBA) the list from Dasvidaniya, customized to my preferences.

A new car – I do not attach any significance to material possessions like a car or a bike. After all I do spend every waking hour in front of a computer. It is obvious I attach more value to my laptop (As you can see in an overdramatized earlier post). In the end, though, the need for speed rules. Nothing beats the thrill of racing. I was warned a few times for racing with the school bus while returning home from PC Thomas engineering entrance coaching classes on my bicycle. My best races, though, have always been on the track.

So, for my first on RememberTheMilk I’ll have completing 100 metres in 11 seconds. Okay, it is not exactly Usain Bolt, but I want to keep it realistic. For the record, my best time is 11.7 seconds clocked in 1999 when I was 16. That was followed by gobbling up every ounce of chicken I can find for the next four months, kissing any athletic future good bye (In my defence, It was my XIIth study holidays and I was eating four times a day of home cooked food)

Foreign Trip – I’ve been to a foreign nation. Not exactly a remarkable feat, seeing that most people have. Just like it is “compulsory” for every Indian to work in an IT/ITES company, it was compulsory for every Keralite of my parents’ generation to work in the Gulf. So, I spend three years (my first three) in the warm clime of Abu Dhabi.

But in theses days, where everyone lead their life away from home, it is a trip back home that is more in need. So, for my second, to be home when I die.

Guitar – I was never the musical or the artistic type. Those genes went from my dad to my sister (who is an architect now). But I have inherited some of my father’s flair in doing things. Currently, I am working on a book, the theme of whihch is almost done. I doubt I’ll be able to sell it; still I do want to complete it.

Neha – In the movie, Neha (played by Neha Dhupia) is the lifelong crush of the protagonist. My first crush was when I was in IXth, my second was nine minutes later, when I saw another girl. Crushes come and go and it is something I have hardly given any importance. May be someday I’ll find Miss Perfect.

Mumma – In the movie, the protagonist is nervous about telling about his illness to his mother. Since that is not my concern here, I wish to include my entire family, my parents and my sister.

I take mostly after my mom (and my sister after my dad), but all three have significant contributions to the good bits of my characters (I am completely responsible for the bad bits). My mom has been responsible for making sure I study and get something into the lazy brain that I have and my dad has always been source of inspiration. My sister, unfortunately, has always been at the wrong end of my temper tantrums when we were kids. Anyway, they are all responsible for churning out any talent that I have to something productive. They all form important parts of my life and I intend to keep them close.

Boss ka boss – In the movie, the protagonist has the boss from hell, referred to as Hari Sadoo (Remember the naukri ad). I’ve handled two jobs so far and four bosses (If I include my internship). Fortunately, all have been capable people and I will always be glad to work for them, provided the situation presented itself. But, that doesn’t mean my work has not been hindered by the powers that be. Here, I have to say I have completed my task.

The first occasion was in school, when I told the school administration very nicely to f*** off (Not in the exact words, though). The story has progressed into a legend in the school (At least it comes up in the school orkut community every now and then) added on with rumors and half truths that every story adopts over the years. The second was when I quit a job over the incompetence of the HR of that company. So, I can confidently say “Boss ka boss” is over and done.

Rajiv – In the movie, Rajiv is the protagonist’s best friend, but has drifted away over the years. I never had a close friend. It is mainly due to my short temper as a kid, where I would pick a fight with few of them over something silly and shuts myself out from the rest of the world for a long time. As a result, I am used to being a loner. Fortunately, all my school friends have stuck by me despite my temper, even the one I stabbed with a pencil in third standard or threw a brick at in ninth standard (The brick missed).

Over the years, I have become more sociable, though I very rarely have had a close group of friends, always aloof from the rest of the world, browsing the net on my comp. As a result, I know everyone I’ve come across and they know me as well (Can be inferred from my orkut and facebook friends list), but I have very few close friends. And I do try to keep in touch with everyone by moderating my school and class orkut communities and B School batch’s yahoo group and of course being always active on social networking sites like orkut, facebook and twitter.

Love – As mentioned earlier, may be one of these days I’ll find lady love.

Photo on the front page – My name has come on the front page of the newspaper; thanks to T.I.M.E who gratefully published the names of IIM callees in Kerala in 2004-05 (Though they had mispelt my name and erroneously mentioned my call as IIM-L when it was IIM-I). My photo has made it to the front cover (If I recall correctly) of an unfortunate business magazine who was reviewing B Schools. I was drafted in as a last minute replacement and did not realize it was for a photo shoot. Had I known, I would have backed out. (In case you don’t know, I don’t smile in front of cameras). So, I consider this task half done.

Vivek – In the movie, Vivek is the estranged brother of the protagonist. I have a sister and I’ve included her earlier already. I’ve always had an invisible wall around me, so I’ve never had any sort of personal attachment with anyone I’ve known. But there are two people who I’ve known, albeit briefly, who have been able to break that wall. Incidentally, both of them are girls and no, I was not attracted to either of them. I’ve lost complete contact with the first and the same seem to be the case of the second.

No things to do list will be complete if I don’t mention that I’ll kill some people. So as a footnote, I’ll add that I plan to kill a conservative estimate of two billion people. Hey, you never know, maybe we can have world peace after all. Now, where is my cup of Kopi Luwak?

FYI : Check out the cool Dasvidaniya Facebook App, which I haven’t tried out.