Full name: Dinoj Randal Surendran
Birthday: 21 July 1978
Citizenship: India
Mental Stability: like that of the Titanic
Main characteristics: Depends how well you know me!
I'm a first year MSc (Graph Theory) student at the University of Zimbabwe... if that makes as much sense to you as the University of Outer Baluchistan, don't worry! Zimbabwe sometimes feels like Balu... which is why I want to do a PhD in the States by Fall 1999.
My interests are fairly typical, which means I am not your local osteopathoenteropsychologist-cum-scuba-diver. First and threemost - reading. Pratchett's the best, and anything like Douglas Adams and Tibor Fischer. But some classical stuff too, like Tolstoy and Wilde. The modern Indian writers are my cup of chai too, Rushdie's a genius! Vikram Chandra, Arundhati Roy, Anita Desai etc. And thrillers, which I read when I don't feel like thinking --- the usual Forsyths and Grishams. Detective stories are nice too, Rex Stout's witty and sarcastic, without a lot of the soppiness that characterizes authors like the Dame and Ruth Rendell. Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael stories have some marvellous medieval language. And scifi - Asimov and Clarke are my favourites.
And listening to music - I grew up on Abba and Boney M, and a lot of today's dance stuff is nice too. My favourites are Ace of Base.
As I've been blessed with one of those gifts you can't give away - namely negative hand-eye coordination, with nice wimpish biceps to boot, my only sporty hobbies are table tennis and cycling - the latter being non-existent at the moment because some unkind soul borrowed my bike without my permission and it's probably being ridden around Harare with ten coats of paint at the moment. And if you can count scrabble as a sport, do so!
But I seem to spend most of my time working on Zimaths and other pop math stuff. In fact I spent so much time on that in 1996 that I flunked my exams and only got an upper second class pass overall for the year, when I had got first class passes in all my first year courses! But I managed to scrape through with a first class degree the next year.
And I'll mention all my friends now, for no good reason... Niamh, Mamta, Blessing, Sunita, Seve, Shakil, James, Gavin, Sushi, Nhamo, Lavanya, Tawanda, Ysy, Miki and Anita, ... thanks people!
PS - I have made this site very plain on purpose. But the reason I've not put a photo of me on this page is out of consideration to bespectacled surfers who might need new glasses after seeing it.
If you feel up to it, email me
![[Map of Bharat]](homemap.gif)