personal

I like to keep up with the times, and as is so fashionable these days, here's an attempt to write up 100 things about moi . If you'd rather look at a more concise and structured summary, check the about page.

NOTE: This is a work in progress. Feel free to contribute.

1. My first name is Diwaker. It means the Sun god in Hindi
2. My family name is Gupta. Its origins date back to the ancient caste system. NOTE: the caste system was abolished a long time back in India, and I am glad that it was. The caste system was evil.
3. I hate hypocrisy and violence.
4. I'm a geek (except the socially inept part!).
5. I'm not very much into sports but I love music.
6. I wrote my first program in GW-BASIC.
7. My first school was called Kali Badi.
8. 9th grade was a shocking eye opener, 10th grade taught me lessons the hard way, 11th and 12th grade were simply rocking!
9. I never owned a computer while at IIT Kanpur.
10. I was class monitor right from 1st grade through 7th grade.
11. I was once badly harassed by custom officials at Delhi IGI airport.
12. I really want to go to two places before I die: Egypt, and Space.
13. I have a bad memory, so I prefer using tools to keep my life organized: todo lists, calendars, reminders etc.
14. I never had a driving license in India, nor am I registered for voting (yet).
15. I can never remember any jokes, or song lyrics for that matter.
16. I would like to believe in some notion of a God, but I'm currently an Agnostic.
17. I am passionate about open source software and have some trouble accepting that some Apple products are actually good.
18. I absolute abhor smoking and tend to have a bias against those who smoke (of course there are exceptions).
19. I had never tasted alcohol until my senior year at IIT.
20. I promised my dad that I'll have my first drink with him and I kept it.
21. I'm not a big fan of birthday celebrations.
22. I like using Oral-B tooth brushes.
23. King Solomon's Mines was the first real novel I ever read.
24. Back in middle school I was a big fan of the Three Investigators. At that time I had read all of their published books (and later I caught some new books from the Hot Wheels series as well). I was so into it that I even tried creating a similar outfit with two friends, complete with magnifying glass and visiting cards and rules of field and operating procedures. Of course, we never had or tried to get a case
25. The Mysterious Island, by Jules Verne is probably the only book I've read more than once.
26. I don't believe in favorites.
27. I love oranges, and I like peeling them without breaking the peel (I usually end up with one long snake like peel piece)
28. I really enjoy cooking and am decent at Indian food. I'm hoping to pick up dishes from some other cuisines as well.
29. I am quite punctual, and I absolutely detest it when people don't value my time (and theirs).
30. I read a lot of science fiction in high school, including a lot of Arthur C. Clarke and Asimov.