The Muppathne List!

I know this is a food-blog, and I intend to keep it that way, although the past couple of posts didn’t exactly live up to it, but as I am running towards the end of the most defining decade of my life faster that I hoped I would, I cant help but think of a few things. Few things I’ve done over the past 10 years. Few mistakes. Few good things. Few memories. Few friends. Fewer foes. And some really good times. Since this is the only active blog I have, here it goes…

The first 10 years of my life have been boring. I was the nerd in school, someone whom even I would hate, if I were to see her now. I read all the time, books way above my age, and didn’t play many of the games kids played back then. Scrabble, Tin Tin and Mills & Boon were some of the words I learnt after I turned 25, and am not proud of it.

The second 10 years were spent trying to make something out of my life. Everything I wanted to do was always punctuated with ‘When I grow up’. Now that I have actually grown up, I realize that I should’ve done them all then, instead of being a silly serious teenager. Yes, none of the teenage girl tantrums, pyjama parties, sleepovers, girl giggles over crushes. Zilch. I grew up in a serious town where there was no place for any of this, and all we had to do everyday was to study, because getting into a good college was tough! Study I did, but got into a good college, I doubt. :P But then, life has turned out well after that, thankfully!

I still remember the night before my 20th b’day, I was talking to a best friend about what I wanted for a gift and my plans for the next 10 years, and my brother jumped into the room, partly to threaten me for talking on the phone in that ungodly hour, and partly to make me cut my first ever birthday cake. It still feels like yday, and it still is hard to believe that its been 10 years. 10 Good years! :)

List-making is a compulsive habit I have cultivated over the past decade, and how can I not make one at a time like this. :)

Over the past 10 years, I have -

1. Fallen in love and got married purely for love. Interestingly, I didn’t believe in neither marriage nor love back then, but when it happened, it sure did feel good :)
2. Found my Mr.Right. Yes, its a pleasant surprise that a man like that existed, for me :)
3. Changed my name. Of course, after my wedding. :) It was a big decision given the number of documents I had to get it changed on. And the process is still not 100% done! Phew!
4. Contemplated suicide just once. Yes, and I was damn serious then. When I look back now, I know it was the stupidest thought process ever. :)
5. Owned my first ever Barbie for my 25th b’day. Even I felt bad for the little girl that was me! :(
6. Lost the ability to trust people. Totally. In fact, trust issues are something I battle on a daily basis! :|
7. Given farewells to many friends. Some good. Some bad. Both friends and farewells. And it hurt every single time.
8. Got betrayed once, in a friendship. I still don’t talk to her, but I sometimes think may be I should! :|
9. Wept with joy only once. That too, when a best friend’s life long dream got fulfilled. Wondered ever since why these tears haven’t visited again. The friend sure did mean a lot, there were happier occasions but I think I grew up to be a more balanced person :)
10. Taken a decision, of which I am still proud of, that I will not join college if it means my Dad would have to take up a loan for my MBA college fee.
11. Was jobless for 6 months, during which I even walked 6-7km every day to save money! Tough tough times, they were, crossing them wouldn’t have been possible without a few friends.
12. Lost a pet. And resolved to never have pets. Finally a foster pet had to come after 8 yrs to get me out of the pain of losing the first one! Also, changed a complete non-dog-person to a total-dog-person. Yes, I loved what I did to the husband!
13. Bargained for a salary of 10K with the CEO of a company, and lost the bargain! :) Got my first job entirely by fluke, in spite of telling I never even wanted to work there! And changed four jobs thereafter. All found through plain networking and friends and of course, some good interviews.
14. Spent my first few salaries on a good deed, something that is doing good even now. *touchwood* :)
15. Had one wonderful closure. Yes, closures are important for us to live on.
16. Moved out of a city totally on an impulse. One moment I was sitting by the steps of a temple in Rajaji Nagar, Bangalore, and the next moment, I got up, packed my bags and moved back to Hyderabad. :)
17. Grown philosophical – practising Yoga & Vipasana and reading Aghora-1 included!
18. Read a lot of books. Lots of them, and unlike the past two decades which I spent reading Shakespeare and the likes, these were books for people my age. Except of course, Harry Potter and Twilight. ;)
19. Seen my mantra of detachment being put to good test. And I think I have almost mastered it, atleast on a human level :)
20. Almost broke the back once, and constantly have the neck in danger. And few such health disasters in the past 5 yrs. This came as a sudden jolt to me, then a 26 yr old who didn’t even have as much as a fever, and pushed me to an extent of being a maniac about healthy eating.
21. Had the most stupidest break up ever. Stupid because the affair was one-sided. :P (Anil Kumble never knew he had an affair with the 20 yr old me, you see! ;))
22. Written my first ever blog post, and continued writing for a little more than 5 yrs now. Discovered the joy of writing! (Don’t ask me the link to the blogs, they are anonymous :) )
23. Travelled a bit, though not as much as I would have loved to, but then, I got another 4 decades to do it all, right? :) Also, had the pleasure of living in a foreign country for a while, like a local.
24. Bought a house! :-D
25. Discovered the interest in cooking, and baking and some gardening.
26. Discovered my love of dark chocolates. Yes, this is important enough to go down in this list :)
27. Gone through various phases – a sentimental romantic person to a wee-bit-cynical, practical and a spiritual(not religious) person and I hope to stay this way.
28. Changed from being a complete extrovert to what I now think is a closet emotional and introvert person
29. Sprouted a few grey hairs :). Now dreaming of growing old and being as beautiful and graceful as Meryl Streep. ;)
30. As a last attempt to do something drastic in this decade, went on a road trip by myself and completed it successfully last weekend, in spite of the car almost giving up on me, and resistance on the home front. The husband was completely supportive that I should do this, Dad and Mom obviously weren’t but they got to know only after I reached their place. Yes, I drove from Hyd to my parent’s place, 230 kms in 2.5 hrs flat, and at an average speed of 90 kmph. And am mighty proud of it! :)

Yaay, and the list has exactly 30 items in it ! :)

And yes, given a chance to live these 10 yrs again, I wouldn’t change anything in the above! They make me what I am today!

[The title literally means – The Thirtieth list. Muppa is Thirty in my mother tongue, Tulu :)]