The Lockdown Bucket List
The pandemic bucket list is a unique thing to think of. It makes sense to have one but doesn’t exactly classify as one. “Things to do before you kick the Bucket”. Once in a lifetime things/experiences. To me, a bucket list is something you want to do but have put off for later, for lack of time or money or both. These lofty items tend to crop up on your mind once in a while but not having done them does not bother you on a daily basis as much, or at least that’s the case with me. As an example, I’ve always wanted to visit Japan or Bora Bora or Cinque Terre. These travel plans have been shelved due to a lack of both time and money. Or take the wish of owning a Katana. That is shelved because of lack of both the factors along with the difficulty of even knowing where to begin looking for one.
The pandemic bucket list would inevitably contain activities that have been rendered impossible/unsafe like hugging someone in public or heading out to your favorite joint. These aren’t once in a lifetime things. These were things so routine or impulsive that you never gave it a thought. Things that were a regular weekend activity now look years away before they will make it back into our lives or some may never come back.
Weekends used to start on Friday evenings at 4pm and you would have a few tabs open. New places to check out, new beers to try, new movies to watch, new clothes to try and buy. Or old places to revisit, old friends to catch up with and old clothes to chill in while you put on the umpteenth episode on Netflix as you munch on good old Bhujia. Throw in a long-ish weekend and the drill was routine then as well. Scroll through tons of sites for best places for short trips; look up prices for cabs/flights; end up planning a catch up with friends and sleeping through the weekend anyway.
That is what makes this bucket list unique. These things are pin pricks most days instead of being once in a year longings. And with increased time on hand thanks to no commute. These pricks are more and more pronounced and frequent.
So here it goes, my bucket list for when and if this pandemic lets normalcy come back into our lives. This isn’t in any particular order though. I’d want to do all of these in a single weekend if possible:
1. Having Benne Dosa at CTR. That perfectly crafted dosa is something the heart craves for its crispy outer layer and delicious, soft inside having just the right amount of flavour to be had either alone or with some masala and sambar-chutney. The holy trip to Malleshwaram, that I had been able to take just twice so far, is perhaps the first eatery I would visit once things open up. Doesn’t matter if the serving staff wants you to either order, eat or leave and not loiter for even a second on a precious table. That trip is already forming in my mind as my mouth drools over.
2. Watching a movie at a theater. Any movie at any theater would do. But ideal would be an epic movie like an MCU flick or Avatar 2 or Into the Spiderverse 2 at a Sathyam cinemas with heaps of popcorn for company. I love my TV and its sound and lying in front of it with all the power to pause and unpause any movie. But a theater holds its own charm. This has hurt me the most given every other weekend has been a movie weekend for me in the last 8 years or so.
3. Sitting for hours at Cubbon park, doing nothing, mask-free. Instead of sitting at home and doing nothing, that is.
4. Having a craft beer on a sunny and windy afternoon on some pub’s porch, without wiping the glass or drinking it through a straw.
I’ll probably keep adding to this list while keeping the hope alive of ticking some of them off the list in the next few months.
