---

ONE DAY YOUR LIFE WILL FLASH BEFORE YOUR EYES, MAKE SURE IT’S WORTH WATCHING!

• Send myself a post card from at least one country in each continent!
• Write travel stories and adventures from every state in India.
• Live in Latin America at least for an year! The Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, Mariachis, football, Tango, chilaquiles, frijoles, Patagonia! Phew, this is where I want to be!
• Travel across the four dream routes,
  across the Silk Route from China to Turkey,
  brave the wild ride of Pamir Highway from Osh in Kyrgyzstan to Dushanbe in Tajikistan, 
  Trans Siberia from Russia to China across Mongolia,  and
  a Pan Americas sojourn, Alaska to Argentina, or may be the Che Guevara style!
• Drive a vintage convertible
• Be fluent in Spanish, at least fluent enough to ask her out in Spanish. cenar conmigo? 😉
• Learn to Salsa, at least enough to do the date dance!
• Count the colors in an Aurora Borealis display!
• Go to Masai Mara during the great migration and tell the wild beasts to not jump across that river with crocodiles.
• Marvel at the once in 12 years bloom of Neelakurinji flowers in Munnar in 2018.
• Selfie with Sachin Tendulkar. Add Deepika Padukone and MS Dhoni too!
• Get a backpack customized with tiny flags of countries that I have visited stitched onto them.
• Teach Geography for the love of maps, preferably in a rural primary school!
• Go to the airport and take a random flight!
• Drive/ Ride along the highest motorable road in the world, Khardung-La.
• Go to Spain! Go to Spain! Go to Spain!
• Surf a wave, at least for a decent distance!
• Donate all organs that I possibly can, including stem cell.
• Take a bartending/ cocktail making class.
• Marvel at the impossibly exotic blue bio-luminescence display on beaches of Maldives!
• Work actively for a NGO.
• Learn to play a musical instrument.
• Inspire at least one person with my travels.
• This one will be the last one literally for a reason, because I am not sure if I would survive one for my extreme fear of heights, Skydive in Dubai!

———————————————————————————————————

2016

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO SET A NEW GOAL; ALL YOU NEED IS A DREAM

• Go on a bike ride along the west coast of India; from Rann of Kutch curving Dwarka to Kanyakumari via Mangalore.
• Go to the turtle walk in Chennai/ Velas.
• Visit at least one North Eastern state of India. 
• Watch and cheer the buffaloes at one of the Kambalas.
• Make a trip to the temples of Tamilnadu.
• Get inked; of course a travel themed tattoo!
• Inject self with extra patriotism at Wagah border.
• See to believe the sunrise and sunset at Rann of Kutch.
• Go snorkeling, doesn’t matter where! If in Great Barrier Reef, let it be!
• Visit the Sacred Groves Of Mawphlang, Meghalaya.
• Witness the sea retreat over few kilometers at Chandipore beach.
• Bow to the Ganga aarti
• Volunteer in Matrimandir, Pondicherry.

———————————————————————————————————

2014

OWN IT, LIVE IT, AND FOLLOW THAT PULL IN YOUR HEART, EVEN IF IT LEADS YOU INTO DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT DIFFERENT TIMES! THIS IS YOUR LIFE!

• Turn red in La Tomatina!
• Witness the running of bulls in Pamplona DIDN’T JUST WATCH, I RAN & SURVIVED!
• Experience the madness of a bull fight.
• Visit the St. Peter’s square, Vatican and receive Pope’s blessings from his balcony. NOT JUST FROM THE BALCONY, ATTENDED A MASS!
• Drive across the picturesque Amalfi coast in Italy.
• Visit the concentration camps in Dachau or anywhere in Germany.
• Climb up the Eiffel Tower and take in the view of Paris.
• Get sloshed at the Oktoberfest in Munich.
• Watch a game of football in one of the European club homes.
• Drive on the Autobahn, to the maximum limit speed that I can safely reach!
• Smirk on the streets of red light area in Amsterdam.

———————————————————————————————————

2013

“To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure. You have no idea of what is in store for you, but you will, if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it,” wrote British Arabist Freya Stark in Baghdad Sketches.

As the year 2012 passes off in a whizz, 2013 is all set to greet us and my destiny has chosen me to awaken quiet alone in a far away land. I am surrounded by such wonders that I am spoilt for choice! So here goes my personal list to be fulfilled in this wonderful land!

1. Get clicked on a Double Decker bus, red phone booth and by the underground sign in London.
2. Of course, the Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, Buckingham and all of London’s hot spots including the Tube ride.
3. Take a glimpse of the Kohinoor Diamond at the Tower of London.
4. Witness the change of guard ceremony.
5. Eat Fish & Chips, Bangers and Mash, Taste Stilton Blue Cheese, Cornish Pasty and English Tea.
6. Watch a football match in stadium.
7. Take the aerial view from London Eye.
8. Walk the Hadrian’s Wall
9. Drive across the Cheddar Gorge.
10. Click one of the most recognized icons of England, Stonehenge.
11. Half a dozen of castles!
12. Photograph the Welsh coastline that was nominated the ‘best region on Earth’ by Lonely Planet.
13. Down a pint of Carling beer.
14. Experience four seasons in a day!
15. Crossing the street with three other people, Beatles-style, outside of Abbey Road Studios.
16. Drive at least five best drives across UK.
17. Visit all four countries in the United Kingdom.
18. Isle hopping across Isle of Man & Isle of Skye.
19. Try atleast 5 of the best walks across UK.
20. Witness a cultural event in its most traditional way.
21. Visit a Scottish whiskey distillery.
22. Do the Ceilidh Dance.
23. Watch a theater play in London.
24. Walk across the White Cliffs of Southern Coast.
25. Get invited to a typical English wedding.

———————————————————————————————————

2012

YOU CAN’T HIT A TARGET THAT YOU CAN’T SEE, AND YOU CAN’T SEE A TARGET THAT YOU DON’T HAVE – Zig Ziglar

So here are my targets that I see in my dreams everyday and hope to hit them as soon as possible.

For the year 2012.. here we go!!!

1. Visit Jog Falls, whatsoever may come!
2. Touch the Southern tip of India.
3. Make a trip around Mangalore.
4. Complete at least 5 treks, preferably Kemmangundi, Kodachadri, Kumaraparvatha, Kannikaaya and Jenukallu.
5. Visit atleast one new state.
6. Go Goa, yes again!
7. Go around at least 10 eateries around and rate them!
8. Read at least 10 novels.
9. Buy at least one Canon lens.
10. Create a list of 100 must watch movie and watch them.
11. Donate at least once to a worthy organization.
12. Make few travel minded friends.
13. Be an early riser. IMPOSSIBLE/ GIVEN UP
14. Create a travel/ photography page/blog.
15. Witness the snake boat race at Alleppey.
16. Go on at least one wild life trip.
17. Watch sunset from Agumbe.
18. Visit all those ‘wow’ places around home: Manjarabad fort, Bisile, Kannikaaya
19. Visit the temple towns Belur, Halebidu, Hampi, Melukote, Shravanabelagola.
20. Pick the best pic of every month and make a calendar.
21. Learn a foreign language.
22. White water rafting at Dandeli