March 2, 2024

Last BLORE Bucket List

Last week while stuck in the back of a stuffy Uber with Taekyung on the way to the Hasiru Dala office, I began to craft my “Last Bangalore Bucket List”; for those of you who don’t know, I take bucket lists very seriously, a tradition I started during lockdown when me and my friends’ bucket lists included a machine to travel to different universes and creating a secret society. Once life started to pick up again, I kept making bucket lists with some achievable things and some things that are still a little out there. The bucket lists will be for a year, summer, trip, or even just the weekend. Last summer my little brother and I made a summer bucket list which included reading 10 books, perfect cartwheels, soup night, and facing a fear. By the end of the summer we’d checked everything off but ‘perfect cartwheels’ which we decided is much too arbitrary. My dedication to the bucket lists made me set my intentions and push myself, usually leading to some hijinks. The lists take different forms in my notes app; bucket list, goals, ins & outs. For our last weeks in Bangalore I needed a serious bucket list. My “Last BLORE bucket list” reads in no particular order as:

-More egg puffs (My favorite and cheapest snack in Bangalore always found after a strange journey to a small bakery in a new neighborhood with Audrey.)
-Pani puri (A little test on my stomach)
-GCIL project (Somewhat self explanatory)
-Bangalore hats (The more obnoxious the better)
-Spicy momo challenge (Momos filled and smothered in Bhut Jolokia peppers supposedly only completed by 10 people. Soon to be bumped up to 12 with a winning photo of me and Phoebe on the wall of Bamey’s cafe.)
-Learn GIS (This may be the far out there goal)
-Cricket match (To be checked off this weekend)
-See Manav and squeeze Chonky (My Bangalorian friend and his very large very sweet dog)
-Say goodbye to Abdul (The owner of the corner store who has stocked kimchi ramen and saved boxes of almond milk for us for the past 10 weeks)
-One last nap in Cubbon park (Checked off last weekend)
-Illenium (Checked off last weekend)

Usually my bucket lists have a few more abstract goals not easily checked off in a few days but the list felt crucial for leaving Bangalore without feeling like I dilly dallied my time away. The last week has been spent almost entirely meeting with mentors, surveying, and preparing to present our idea next week. Constantly thinking about how we will finish our GCIL project and deliverables for Hasiru Dala, my bucket list has been pushed aside. But today I opened my notes and began to prioritize my last few excursions in Bangalore. I think even if a few items on the Bangalore bucket list remain unchecked, it will be a sweet reminder of a few of my favorite things in Bangalore, and the perfect reminder of why I would want to come back. After ten weeks living here, even as we are all eager to continue our travels or return home, I think we will all feel a little bit of unfinished business in Bangalore.

By Nantahala