30 before 30

This list thing is fun. I made one more list. :D 30 things I want to accomplish before I'm 30, not necessarily in that order though. That gives me a good 8 and a half years to do all these wildly all over the place things I want to do. (Oh, and earn enough money to be able to do them. Hmmm. :P)

1. Publish at least one (fun) book i.e. fiction and at least 5 research papers in scholarly journals
2. Attend a literature festival as something more than mere audience.
3. Edit a book that is not my own.
4. Learn a musical instrument. (hopefully one out of: tabla, violin or guitar.)
5. Learn a dance form. Well, at least a couple levels in a dance form. (I have been wanting to learn Kathak for the longest time possible!)
6. Finish my last level of learning French and go to France for some sort of short academic exchange or something.
7. Learn 2 or more languages out of Sanskrit, Urdu, Arabic, Japanese and Spanish.
8. Learn how to wear different types of saris. I only know 2 at the moment.
9. Learn how to cook traditional cuisines from at least 3 other cultures, whether they are Indian or any other cultures in the world.
10. Learn pottery.
11. Learn driving and own at least one car.
12. Learn the basics of good photography.
13. Learn how to make bhang and have it on one holi! :P
14. Write a script./ Direct a short film.
15. Develop my craft. (Yea, I know it's vague. That's the point. :P)
16. Take my stamp collection to at least 100,000 stamps.
17. Not lose touch of hand-written letters to e-mails and not lose touch of long written, loving e-mails to skype! ;)
18. Own at least 50,000 books of my own. (Yes, I sort-of have always wanted to have a mini-library of my own. :P)
19. Buy a diamond ring each for my parents.
20. Make the perfectly embroidered sari for my mum.
21. Knit the perfect sweater. (could be for anyone! :P)
22. Go on a bike trip with my dad. (I know he won't take me to Ladakh like he went for his awesome bike trip and I so want to. But well, any place else, where hopefully, it won't be as cold as it is in Ladakh, is fine with me.)
23. Visit New Zealand.
24. Visit the Harappan civilisation ruins and the Swat Valley in Pakistan.
25. Go sky-diving/ bungee-jumping.
26. Earn enough to be able to fly wherever Sun and Moon are on their 30th birthdays.
27. Teach at Xavier's. Even if it is only as a visiting faculty or filling in for someone.
28. Muster up enough courage to experiment with my hair at least once.
29. Become the favourite aunt. (Of course, Moon and S will have to help me here and have babies first so that I can spoil them! :P But well, they have 8 years, I know they'll do it! :P)
30. Lastly, fall in love with someone who is not a commitment phoebe, alcoholic, workaholic, nicotine/ sex/ substance addict, megalomaniac, religion/ cricket/ soccer fanatic, couch potato, sadomasochist, misogynist, MCP and generally anyone who falls in the super-undesirable category. Maybe get married to him. And NOT have children. (Don't laugh. It takes more work to NOT have children than it takes to have them. Apart, all the pressure and explanations you'll have to deal with every time you visit family would be insane. You'd even be willing to go through labour and 9 months plus 18 years of shit just to avoid that third degree!)

OK, now that I have a list, I need a plan that will help me cross things off list. Some are easily achievable. Some, I think can only be achieved if I rob a bank. But well, we'll see. :P For now, I think, getting back to my dissertation might be a good idea. ;)


Edited to add: S looked at this list and asked me (a very valid) question: What will you do when life happens and you don't have time to do all these things? Well, I realise some of these things are not exactly easy to achieve. But even if I finish 25 out of these, I think I'll be happy. All I can to do is try my level best and scratch things off the list. :)