CURRENT MISSION

Journeying inside and outside, all the time.

ABOUT ME

I am a spiritual person and seek to live this life in a wholesome and conscious way, serve others and discover my real nature. Ufffff well, that's all work in progress! ..I love moving around the world and have been a traveler ever since my parents took me to India at kindergarten age. I am a student of Persian poetry and freelance journalist. I love music, both playing and listening. I enjoy exploring mysticism and religious traditions of all kinds, riding my bicycle and being in nature. I am a vegetarian and like cooking.

PHILOSOPHY

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.
- Molana Jalaluddin Rumi

Be the change you wish to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi

What one fails to know through conversation for many years can be known instantly through silence. / One cannot know God by means of the mind. One can but turn the mind inwards and merge it in God.
- Sri Ramana Maharshi

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have met some of my best friends around the world through Couchsurfing. I was guest to many wonderful hosts in more than 10 countries. Trying to balance it out by being a host more often!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

On my overland trip from Germany to India I was hosted by 30 different people in 30 different cities. Couchsurfing has become a part of my life.

Interests

Languages, Spirituality, Sufism and Vedanta, Meditation, Music and Singing. Playing the guitar, violin and setar. Traveling sometimes becomes my drug. Entering a new place, being stranger, picking up new words - it all thrills me. India has a special place in my heart, so has Iran and its wonderful people.

• dogs
• poetry
• singing
• cooking
• vegetarian
• meditation
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• violin
• teaching
• freelancing
• journalism
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: JS Bach, Beatles, Donovan, Cat Stevens/Yusuf, Simon&Garfunkel, Tracy Chapman, Loreena McKennitt, REM, Coldplay, Rolling Stones, Hannes Wader, Erkan Ogur, Shahram Nazeri, Shajarian, Mr. Violet, Hossein Alizadeh, Ravi Shankar, Sabri Brothers, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan..
Movies: Bab Aziz, Das Leben der Anderen, Groundhog Day, About Elly, Scream of the Ants, The Band's Visit, Gandhi, Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, Terminal, The Darjeeling Limited, The Namesake, Forrest Gump, Jodaeiye Nader az Simin, Bachehaye Aseman.
Books: Siddharta, Khalil Gibhran, Kar, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Alchemist, Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran, Le petit prince, Freedom at Midnight. The otherworldly poetry of Iran - Rumi, Hafez, Sa'di, Attar.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Lived and studied Persian poetry in Tehran.
Crossed the Indian subcontinent on a 72 hour train ride.
Hitchhiked with a Turkish minister.
Met the Dalai Lama.
Slept one night in an auto-rickshaw in Kashmir after being chased by mad dogs.

Teach, Learn, Share

Life is the ultimate teacher and everything is a mirror. Any moment and person we encounter on the way can teach us something. There is no way you can stay at somebody's place without learning and teaching at the same time. On a practical level I can teach language, music and poetry.

Countries I’ve Visited

Afghanistan, Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Qatar, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Iran

•