A 'To-Be' List for July
In hopes of forgetting as little and remembering as much.
The breeze enters my room giving the curtains a much-needed twirl on this surprisingly pleasant day in Delhi. Having spent a few months in this apartment now, I have come to ease myself into the newness of the space, at least, on most days. To inhabit a place in a way that honours every little part of you: the lost, the forgotten, the thriving, the rekindled, is as much an act of healing as it is one of duty. In many ways, I have tried to dedicate each corner of the room to suit a different need. The need to read, write, learn, observe, think, or just be, being a few of many.
Somehow, this year, unlike most years seems to be moving rather quickly, perhaps a possible outcome of growing older? I sit with my laptop, hoping to come up with a list of things that I plan to pursue in the following month. Amidst life and work and chores and people, it is funny but oddly relieving to see how ‘making lists’ is what helps me tie different threads of my world together while ensuring that I forget as little and remember as much.
Lists, though simple, can be so revealing of the ongoing context of one’s life, what do they think is missing, what dreams need to be pursued more vehemently, what responsibilities have taken up priority lately and so on. Besides, there’s a dozen of different kinds of lists that you can come up with ranging from grocery lists, travel itineraries, miscellaneous lists to the most revered of them all, to-do-lists: all that serve their own unique function as we navigate this world of endless chaos.
In fact, one of my favourites are bucket lists, especially those curated when you’re much younger, brimming with so much hope and aspiration. Making bucket lists provided me with an initial understanding of how time, of course, is limited yet the range of possibilities that exist within this limitedness are infinite. And I wonder what would it be like to go back to one of such lists and reconnect with these former hopes and possibilities, to the part of me that was an avid dreamer.
Another set of lists that almost make me nostalgic are grocery lists, considering how these require plenty of team work, communication, and collaboration between different family members. I remember how much care and effort would go into making such lists back at home, as I would sit on the kitchen counter holding a small notepad and pen, jotting down a list of different food items and ingredients, relaying this information between all key stakeholders.
As a partaker and a believer in this rather old school methodology, I wanted to end this newsletter with a list I created recently, hoping it acts as a reminder of sorts that I can carry with myself for the remainder of this year. While I rely more on to-do lists on most days, this is what I like to call a to-be list, particularly for my long-due visit to home this following week!
A to do be list for July:
i. to be like a petal on a flower:
waiting patiently, for the sun
and the rain. whispering to the
wind its dozen little secrets.
ii. to be as a child is: carefree and
forgiving. relishing the taste of
home-grown fruits and vegetables,
preserved in generational recipes.
iii. to be like a book that holds many
morsels of wisdom, figments of
imagination, smidgens of curiosity;
waiting to be discovered.
iv. to be like the warm cup of tea
that finds you each evening and
brings with it a whiff of nostalgia,
and an abundance of memories.
v. to be like the waves gliding across
the shore, advancing and retreating,
rising and dropping, finding their
own rhythm, altering it whenever needed.
Share your reflections with me:
Writing this piece was such a joyful experience for me because I went into it without knowing where it would lead or what theme I may be drawn to. It also made me very excited to talk about something very seemingly trivial and build a richer account around it, switching between the role of a participant and an observer.
As a prompt to someone who may feel as passionately as me about making lists, what kind of a list would you be the most likely or eager to create, what kind of a story would that tell about you? Comment down below or write to me at oshinrawat12@gmail.com. :)
Another beautiful read 💙