I Had Only 24 Hrs To Live & Had To Do Everything On My Bucket List From Colouring My Hair Red To Buying A Manish Malhotra Dress!

‘I am too young to die…’ I thought as I hurried to cross off everything from my bucket list. From red hair & a tattoo to sitting on a roller-coaster, I had to live my last day to the fullest!

‘You have last 24 hours left!’ The message flashed on my phone. I was dying with curiosity to figure out who had the power to let me live only for the next 24 hours! ‘Sender- GOD’.

For the first few minutes, I was overwhelmed, and then I went, “Nooooooo… how can this be true…I still have so much to do…hazaaron khwaishen to be fulfilled, how will I finish all of this in just 24 hours!”

“I’m too young to die!” I dramatically sighed. Now that I knew I was short of time, I decided to make the most of it. I couldn’t afford to waste a single second! Each moment was incredibly precious.

I made a list of everything I wanted to do, every experience I could enjoy in a limited time. My eyes were glued to the clock. I dashed off, “My time starts now!”

The first stop was at Pawan Hans to hire a helicopter for the big day. I could not afford to waste time in Mumbai’s crazy traffic. Next, we landed at a posh salon and tattoo studio owned by a well-known stylist. “Please cut my hair short and colour it. It would be a combination of bright red and cool blue,” I requested.

“While the colour sets in, I want to get a tattoo done too. It would be on the left side of my neck and that of a scorpion! Please be quick, I’m running short of time,” I added in an urgent tone. The attendant looked a little shocked at my weird requests, but she started her job immediately.

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Though I was a little too scared of the pain I would have to endure while getting the tattoo done, I assured myself that it would be worth it. Two hours had passed, now I had only 22 left!

“Ma’am, we’re done,” said the hairdresser. The moment I glanced at the mirror, I started jumping with joy at my new dashing look! I could feel my confidence go many levels up. The new avatar was nothing less than that of a diva! “Finally! After all these years of just dreaming of the look, I got it done and it’s worth every bit of it,” I gleamed.

I quickly browsed through my to-do list and rushed off to Manish Malhotra’s fashion boutique. A quick look at myself in the elevator mirror was enough to convince me I needed a designer dress with all the crazy frills and flashy sequins.

I sashayed out of the changing room, looking and feeling like a disco ball. The curious attendant exclaimed with her eyes wide open, “You-you, you are extremely shiny!” I laughed with glee and paid for the dress, anxious to get to my next stop where I would rub elbows with the rich and famous.

“Welcome to The Taj,” the receptionist at the hotel politely welcomed me. I made a beeline for the Chef’s Kiss restaurant. I ate to my heart’s content, relishing each and every delicacy, admiring the vast and beautiful Arabian sea. To wine and dine at The Taj, one more wish ticked off the bucket list.

It was time to conquer my fears and to do that, my next stop was a popular amusement park. Just the thought of riding the highest roller coaster gave me the jitters, but I convinced myself, “This is no time to be scared, letssss gooooo,” posing like Superman.

I strapped myself in and prepared for the ‘Living Death’ ride. The ride started bumping along slowly. “Aah this is not scar- AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!” The car plunged at a 90° angle and suddenly took a 360° turn. I was screaming my lungs out when we entered a dark tunnel. It was pitch black and for a moment I wondered whether my 24 hours were over.

I saw the light at the end of the tunnel as we were pushed out into the daylight again. I caught a glimpse of the camera ahead, stopped screaming and made a cute cat face and a victory sign before resuming my screaming. After that horribly amazing experience, I was sure nothing could ever scare me. We stepped off the ride, feeling too dizzy to talk, but grinning like crazy! My coloured hair was frizzy and I looked like ‘chaos gone crazy with her hair open’.

All this craziness had made my stomach growl with hunger. It was time to gorge on all the high calorie, delicious, mouth-watering food- junk food, street food and a buffet of unlimited desserts. This was the food that I had been trying to stay away from, although always wanted to devour them.

My chopper headed straight to Mithibai college. After all, the street outside had one of the best street foods. I ordered the famous veg cheese grilled sandwiches, butter vada pav, chilli milli paneer dosa, accompanied by chilled cold drinks. The irresistible aroma of the food being cooked made me even hungrier.

Dessert time…A heavenly spread is served at J W Marriott, that’s where I was headed next. A huge variety of desserts from all over the world awaited, but my eyes were fixed on our very own – gulab jamuns, kalakand, phirni and motichoor laddoos. My tummy was already bursting from all the yummy street food I had gulped down earlier. There was not much room for the scrumptious desserts, yet I managed a few bites of each one of them. It was the moment of extreme satisfaction! For once I ate all that I wished for, without an ounce of guilt!

My eyes glanced at the watch, it seemed to tick faster than ever! “Just a few more hours left!” I was getting restless by now. A quick check on the list made me realize I was almost nearing the end. “That’s it! I’m not very ambitious!” I murmured.

Last but not the least, it was time to tick off the bottom-most items on the to-do list. Time to make some amendments. Completely exhausted, I reached home, took a nice warm shower and slipped into the most comfortable pajamas.

I picked up my phone to make some phone calls and on the contrary, the phone started ringing at its highest volume, ‘Those were the best days of my life… it was the summer of 69’… I started to sing along.

“Stop singing… Heena… stop singing,” I could hear my husband’s worried voice as I received the call. “I got a call from the bank saying you have exhausted your credit card limit! You know it’s a huge amount of money that you have spent…” He continued.

“Yes, I did. After all, I had only 24 hours left!” I defended. “What are you talking about?” He sounded restless.

“I received a message this morning saying ‘You have last 24 hours left!’ It was from GOD,” I went on.

“Oh my goodness! That’s the deadline to pay back the personal loan I had taken on your name from a private entity, ‘Govind Omkar Dhopte’ aka GOD,” he clarified. I could picturize him hitting his head with his palm. All I was left with was, loads of guilt, red and blue hair and a weird scorpion tattoo on the neck!

I could feel my heart sink as I disconnected the call. Immediately, I wished for a miracle and to my disbelief, the most amazing thing happened! I received an SMS that read, ‘You’ve won lottery worth 6 million dollars…. call now.’

Life is so unpredictable, I thought, as I dialled the number in the SMS. Truecaller showed, ‘Calling Mr. Satan de-ville…’

“Such a funny name,” I chuckled…

On a serious note, why do we have to wait for the right time, right day to fulfill our wishes? Shouldn’t we live everyday as if it were our last day on earth? After all, our time here is limited.

If you did enjoy the story, do show some love  and let me know what would you do if you had only 24 hours left?

Image source: Still from Queen

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