Ramblings about myself...

Atul Talesara

Time for some Introspection...

A 101 things I figured about myself.

One fine day I was blog-strolling and read this post: 55 things about me. And was instantly charged to make my own. After rambling on for few weeks I came up with this short list. It is far from complete, but sketches me pretty well. If nothing else, you should write down yours in your own little private book. It's a good introspective exercise.

  1. I love to start numbering from zero instead of one
  2. I love to take photographs wherever I go
  3. I love harmony
  4. I love martial arts
  5. I can eat same food, day-in-day-out and not get bored
  6. I can listen to same song non-stop in loop for days and still enjoy it. This freaks out all my buddies :)
  7. I can't live without access to my linux box
  8. If you strike the right chord with me, I can ramble on and on for hours
  9. When I'm tensed, I like to watch movies or meditate
  10. I rate higher on nerdy and geek scale than on social scale
  11. I can't cheat others
  12. I love Linux
  13. I hate to suffocate my feet inside shoes, so you will often see me roaming around bare-footed
  14. I prefer to tour a place that is sparsely crowded
  15. If GOD asked me do you believe Angels? I would say 'Yes, my Mommy'
  16. I believe that surviving in this world requires you to be extremely mean and exceedingly cunning, yet I refuse to adopt to that kind of life style
  17. I would rather sit alone on my a$$ with a book than booze and party
  18. I would rather play exhausting sport than sit on my a$$ and read a book
  19. I love the fragrance of wet mud
  20. I like to dream
  21. I am a teetotaler, and this bugs a lot of my buddies
  22. If God gave me power to remove any 3 vices from world, I would remove:
    • Politicians/Politics
    • Greed and
    • Jealousy
  23. In my view breathing techniques are the most advanced form of exercises. I have been trained in a few of these techniques, and some day I'll learn and master the advanced forms of them.
  24. I am amongst the category of 'Early to Sleep And Early to Rise'. And all my buddies hate me for this
  25. I don't like to celebrate my birthdays.
    I think I'm too afraid of celebrations, that is why you will rarely see me carousing at parties, etc.
    As to WHY... I don't know yet. One fine morning I was introspecting as why can't I be normal like everyone else and enjoy birthdays, parties, dancing, etc. After much deliberation a voice came from the deep sub-conscious.. 'You are scared of celebrations, Atul!' I gasped in utter disbelief. I sat there for few minutes, only to realize to my horror that it was every bit TRUE! OK, don't psycho-analyze me too much!
  26. I love to write on paper with my 0.5mm mechanical pencil
  27. I am exceedingly choosy about my writing instruments, there is only one brand of mechanical-pencils I trust "Faber Castle"
  28. I love oil pastel crayons
  29. I am too economical in using any resource (except n/w bandwidth, I think)
  30. Cutting me off from my email is the best way to torture me :)
  31. I am religious, but not orthodox
  32. Usually, I don't tend to worry about what you think of me, unless you are someone very important in my life
  33. I have few close friends
  34. I love chocolates, in anything and everything (Note: You can bribe me chocolates into doing almost anything)
  35. Steaming hot cup of ginger-cardamom-pepper milk-tea is my favourite beverage.
    And my Mommy's love transforms it into ambrosia.
  36. Cold coffee (light) with ice-cream comes next
  37. Amongst flowers, I love the fragrance of Jasmine and Lavender
  38. My bedroom will always smell good
  39. I like neat-n-tidy bed with a crease-less sheet on it (just like you see in your hotel rooms)
    Yet I prefer sleeping on hard-surface, with just a quilt between me and the floor :)
  40. I love my books and take great care of them. In fact I'm too emotional about my books.
  41. You can easily win my wrath by mis-handling my books
  42. I detest using pencils as bookmarks, dog-earing pages, or even carelessly marking lines without a ruler
  43. You will always hear soft soothing ambient music playing in my room
  44. I am practitioner of subtlety
  45. I am very optimistic about my pessimism
  46. My Belief:
    47. If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished
  47. I'm a student of practice (just as one of my profs is Professor of the Practice)
  48. I think good algorithms should be like bikinis... It should save people a lot of guesswork
  49. I hate deadlines to the CORE! Because it's not the end result that I'm interested in, it's the journey that's more exciting to me! That's where the learning happens
  50. As a kid, I had a fetish for fancy cigarette boxes
  51. For me, there's no such thing as watching too much movie, nor drinking too much tea and playing too much football or volleyball!
  52. To me, there's a HUGE difference between coding & programming
  53. I trust most of the real programmers code in vi (link)
  54. To me, there's no such thing as a Stupid Question (only unless, the intention of question is to show your participation)
  55. I believe You only see what you want to see
  56. I am big proponent of believing in instincts, I think it's far superior than a conditioned intellect! But it is extremely difficult to live by it.
  57. Everyone who doesn't agree with me is my friend
  58. I have come to believe that no good deed goes unpunished (link)
  59. I love Huffman encoding
  60. Smiles can work wonders (link)
  61. I'm extremely intolerant of songs and music not suiting my taste
  62. After vibrant red, deep bottle green color is my favorite. Followed by beige, maroon, violet and fuchsia.
  63. I love cameo design
  64. I either forgive you in an instant, or never for the rest of my life. But either way you won't figure it out easily.
  65. I'm not a loner, but from time to time I need some time alone to re-contemplate the meaning of life
  66. Body odor is a BIG turn-off to me
  67. I think a lot about money, but I'm NOT money minded
  68. I live thriftily, for most part
  69. Lack of personal hygiene is another BIG turn off
  70. Girl's beautiful long hair turns me on :) And if they smell good, I go head-over-heels :-P
  71. Girls look cute specially when they wear over-sized pull-overs and carry themselves gracefully
  72. Too much arrogance is a deterrent
  73. I prefer to wear unfashionable comfortable clothes over smart looking unwieldy ones
  74. I preach respect for all living beings around us, not just humans, which kind of tells you I'm a hardcore vegetarian.
  75. The text I read, if not grammatically perfect, should at the least not have any misspellings. Be it emails, article, newspaper, or even IM chat.
  76. I might look exceptionally unruffled in most pensive of situations, but that does not necessarily always reflect my inner state
  77. I have a BAD temper, and I'm thankful that only a handful few have ever seen it
  78. Sometimes I believe I think more than I should, more thoughtful than I should be
  79. From time to time, I can become too centered, giving an impression that I'm oblivious of the existence of rest of the world. This is kind of unnerving to people around me
  80. I have a fetish for Japanese machines, esp. Japanese cars
  81. I love everything my Mommy cooks for me
  82. I don't mind doing stupid reckless things with my close friends around
  83. I don't believe in astrology too much. It is an approximate science, though. Nonetheless, many a times I'm tempted to believe I'm a true Libran.
  84. If I don't talk to you in a while, that doesn't mean I'm pissed off at you, and neither that I don't care for you.
  85. I view cricket as a Pregnant Men's Game! I can't come to terms that it is a religion in my country.
    To me, it is the MOST wasteful of sports, after Golf.
  86. People who don't know me think I'm shy. And people who do know me wish I were!
  87. I usually tend to infer more about a person from what he talks of others than he talks of himself
  88. At times I can be the most boring living creature on the planet. But thank GOD I can't stay that way too long :)
  89. I myself sometimes believe that my laptop is my better half!
  90. I can go on for the day with just a breakfast and a bottle of apple juice!
  91. When tired, a splash of ice-cold water on face works miracles on me
  92. I can't go to bed without brushing my teeth and reading a book
  93. I love to collect coffee mugs
  94. Love the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, aka Origami
  95. .
  96. ... the list is growing ...