Dear Alia

As she completes five wildly eventful, successful and life-altering years in Bollywood, Alia Bhatt pens a letter to her future self. Her plans, hopes, dreams and all the stuff in-between, the actor and megastar covers them all.

Remember this year, 2017. It’s the year I started to form a relationship with myself. It’s also the year I started meditating—I’ve stuck to it for three weeks now, and I’ve really been enjoying it. Hopefully, you’re still at it, 15 years from now. I’ve always wanted this; not to meditate necessarily, but this moment of stillness in a day. The thing is, I’m not a people person. I stick with the few who really matter, and that’s it. It’s not like I hate human beings, I just consider myself a cat.

At 40, I hope you are a good person. And that you haven’t allowed success or failure to ruin your relationships or make you forget your roots. I hope you haven’t changed drastically. I’m sure you’ve had to change, but I just hope not too drastically.

You know, I can’t take breaks? I feel very guilty when I try to clear my schedule. I feel like I should work rather than chill. But one day, I want to go on a safari to see wild animals—you know, the typical South African safari. I also want to travel to New Zealand and Australia, and I want to see the northern lights too. Maybe take a solo hiking trip somewhere. I hope you did all that.

How’s the girl gang? We’ve stuck together since we were four and I don’t think it’ll have changed. I know this because I’m not special to them; they don’t care. They’re like, “Who are you?” I surround myself with family, with people who treat me like a regular person—the people who knew me before I became who I became. And I know it’s a cliché, but I hope you still focus on work and don’t get carried away with the limelight, which can get exhausting.