Google defines a bucket list as ‘a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime’. Of course, I have my bucket list. It is only fair to make a bucket list for myself, so that I can gauge how far I’ve come and how much I’ve become the man I wanted to be.

Here they are.

This list is in no particular order (with the completed activities featuring first).

Jump off a bridge – did this on my birthday. Location – Adyar broken bridge

Solo trip to another state – went to Burhanpur on my own, to meet my mother’s brother’s family

Grow man boobs – done it, still have it (as on 2020); now they’ve hid themselves significantly (as on May 2021)

Get a tattoo – done it, it says ‘Sonrie si crees’ which is ‘Smile if you believe’ in Spanish

Make friends with a stranger woman – done it, in a Chennai local train. We still talk, she’s happily married

Get my work published in a newspaper – done it. The Hindu published my articles on motherhood, Diwali, and Sachin

Attend a live concert – done it, attended the in-house concert of Sakthishree Gopalan

Get my first purchased novel signed by the author – done it, Ashwin Sanghi signed my battered copy of ‘Chanakya’s Chant’

Get rejected by a woman I know – done it, we were having lunch together when i proposed her (fully aware that she’s engaged)

Scuba diving

Get my novel published (not self-published)

Take a HD photo of the moon with a camera

Play Wonderwall and Woman to me (or) Young and beautiful on my guitar

Compose and sing my own song – composed it, not sung yet

Smoke a cigar – did it, quite an experience

Launch my own podcast channel – done it, it’s hosted by Anchor.fm – Thoughts on a run

Get properly high

Travel to a country which none of my known people have visited. I want this to be the first country (apart from my own country) to step foot on

Volunteer to teach in a school

Earn a salary of ₹1 lac a month

Grow a beard, a half-foot long beard

See northern or southern lights

Befriend a wild animal

Adopt a non-human being

Read and review 200 books (#OBAAT) – halfway done, have read and reviewed 100 books as on 31-Dec-2020

Take a group selfie with 50+ strangers after announcing my intent of the same

Complete a 10km marathon

Visit Gangotri, preferably by hiking

Buy an open world stand-alone video game i haven’t played before, and complete it