The Western world has a different set of checkpoints. The three major phases can be roughly classified as ) when you believe in Santa, b) when you don’t believe in Santa and finally c) when you are Santa :) The upsurge in foot-loose adventures of the childhood peaks as a teenager and plateaus at the age of thirty….after which its usually considered going down the hill ;) After one such long discussion with my fellow PhD student Albena, I decided to make a list of 30 things that I had to absolutely finish before I hit that all-distressing 30 year-conundrum. This list should have ideally contained 30 achievements, each of which could be grouped in 3 or a multiple of it. This gave a full three years to satiate my false sense of accomplishment. However, amongst many, I realized to my horror that I had overestimated my abilities to complete a PhD as well as in the breeding efficiency of my mice :) Before I knew I had hit that thick stone wall, I had only managed to…
1) Learn to say “Hello, I am Sridhara. I am 30 years” in 13 languages – Sanskrit, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, English, Dutch, German, French, Spanish, Frisian and Arabic
2) Travel 3 continents – Asia, Europe,
3) Visit 17 countries –
4) Visit 3 wonders of the world – Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower of Pisa,
5) See 3 oceans – Atlantic, Indian and Pacific; and 5 major seas - Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, North Sea, Adriatic Sea,
6) Learn how to swim
7) Direct music for 6 songs for a teleserial
8) Compose music in 33 ragas (scales)
9) Write 21 songs in three languages – Sanskrit, Kannada and English
10) Publish 2 scientific papers and a Thesis
11) Meet and interact with 3 Nobel Laureates – James D. Watson, Eric Kandel, Seymour Benzer
12) Start learning Yajur Veda from scratch
14) Sea/River raft (
15) Fly kite on the beach (
16) Rock climb (
17) Wall climb (
With Martijn, Lonneke, Bart, Arne and Jamilja
18) Scale 4 peaks – Tadiyandamol (Coorg,
19) Learn to Ski (Winterberg,
20) Go-Kart (
NIN Co-PhDs
21) Work at an orphanage and old age home
22) Cook 24 Indian dishes
23) Visit the three Ranganatha Temples along Kaveri on bike the same day (450 kms)
24) Start writing a treatise on the three branches of Indian philosophy propounded by Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhwa Acharyas.
25) Publish a photograph (of
26) Learn Salsa dancing
27) Play the coolie
Bangalore Railway Station
28) Appear on Television both as a singer as well as a judge
29) Take part in 2 Flash mobs in
Outside ALBERT HEIJN
30) Build a bird house
All said and done, that does not look like a bad list :) Life is too short and extremely precious! So, make your lists, be you 18 or 60 and realize your dreams. Many a time, you may not get what you want, but that should not stop you from dreaming. If you aim for the stars and get the Moon, that's no less a feat :)
Go get them, Tiger!!
2 comments:
What was the last photo about? Were they having a discount sale for cookies at the Albert Heijn. Knowing the Dutch love of a good bargain, I wouldn't be surprised!!!
Hahaha! That would be very true, especially since I too was there :)
This was the first "flash mob" in Amsterdam, just after the ones in New York and London earlier in the day. The idea was to make all Albert Heijn shoppers to feel like celebrities... the flash mobbers ofcourse were the "paparazzi". We were only told to bring the cameras to Dam Square and were let in on the fact a few mins before.
It was similar to the one we went next year in Waterlooplein to enact the Euro Cup game and singing the Dutch Soccer Anthem :)
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