Soumyadeep Ghosh

I sometimes like to do things other than Computer Science. My favorite activities: football (soccer), reading fiction, occasionally writing and more recently, travelling.

I watch a lot of football: and when I say football, I mean the real football - played with feet - not the one with the foot-long ball not shaped like a ball. I play too occasionally; only, I am not so good. I play for the Computer Science intramurals team every fall. It is the one of the few places you will find a bunch of computer scientists collectively do something outdoors :)

I am an ardent supporter of Manchester United Football Club from Manchester, UK. I have supported them since I was nine, and often my mood can be gauged from the current run of United's form. I blog here about United quite often. I have also begun writing on Bleacher Report lately.

My favorite United Moments:

• European Champions, Nou Camp, Barcelona '99 [Match Report] [YouTube]
• European Champions, Luzniki Stadium, Moscow '08 [Match Report]
• League Title #19, 2011 [Slideshow]
• Beating Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford, Manchester '07 [Match Report] [YouTube]
• Beating Arsenal 2-1 at Villa Park, '99 in the FA Cup semi-final replay [YouTube]
• Comeback from 3-0 down to beat Tottenham Hotspur, White Hart Lane, London '01 [Match Report] [YouTube]
• Beating Manchester City 4-3 at Old Trafford, Manchester '09 [Match Report] [YouTube]
• First time at Old Trafford, 3-1 victory against Sunderland '12 [Match Report]

On a more personal note, I have watched United play live thrice: the first time against the New England Revolutions at the Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA (Match Report), and the second time against Barcelona F.C. at the FedEx Field in Washington D.C. (Match Report). I also travelled to Old Trafford in December 2012 to watch United play Sunderland.

My favorite United blogs and sites: The Busby Babe, 7Cantonas United Religion RedCafe

I also love reading a lot. My favorite genres are science fiction and fantasy. I write occasionally - that too, mostly science fiction - but I suffer too frequently from that bane of all aspiring writers: writer's block.

My favorite novels: The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams), 1984 (George Orwell), Animal Farm (George Orwell), A Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger), The Three Musketeers (Alexandre Dumas), Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

I have also discovered a love of travelling. Much of my time in the summer of 2010 was spent backpacking around Europe. Below is a map of all the countries I have visited in my lifetime. And there are quite a few grey areas on the map that I'd like to turn blue.

My favorite destinations: Rome, Nice, Bruges, Brussels, Helsinki, Luzern