Full-time Traveller, Photographer, Occasional Biker, Startuper, Husband

I started my work career in a small software startup team (SlideShare) which later got acquired by LinkedIn. I grew in my job there and then after working for about five years for them; I joined another smaller startup to head their tech team. Currently, I work as a digital nomad working with a valley based startup.

I'm incredibly passionate about photography. My pictures have been published in magazines of international repute, including National Geographic, Lonely Planet, etc., featured in calendars and went on to sell online as well. Photography, as a serious hobby, goes hand in hand with my travels.

I am currently traveling fulltime with my wife. Until October of 2017, we were staying in New Delhi where my wife was working with a government bank. We hosted a lot of friends, traveled to destinations on the weekends, but we're looking for more, away from a 9 to 5 job every day. My wife, Prerita, then decided to quit her stable job. We sold off everything that we had to travel fulltime.

It has been about 3 years that we have been traveling together now. Since both of us are natively from Jaipur, a city in Rajasthan, we thought of exploring our backyard first before going to other places. We traveled extensively across India, and then we thought of exploring other regions in the world as well.

In the past one year, we have traveled across 25 different countries, including our own. Our travels have taken us to remote regions of Indian Himalayas, tiny islands in Japan with a total population in two digits, vineyards of France and the towering heights of the Italian Alps. We later traveled the width of Balkans with some really intensive experiences. We met a lot of people during these travels, and a good number of them are our friends now. In the past one year we travelled to Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam. We are people's persons, we love meeting them and sharing our stories and listening to new experiences.

When we are back in India with a more stable base than how it is currently, we would love to host people with us. As a couple, we are friendly, open minded and helpful. We like to talk about travels, places, culture and even politics sometimes. I assure you, boring wouldn't be a word that you would use for us.

In case you are planning to travel across India, which we have done quite decently in the last 7-8 years. We would surely be able to help you chalk out a plan (or no plan!)

Prerita (my wife)
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She is the inspiration for our travels. In fact, her name literally translates to the one who gives inspiration. She worked for a government bank based in India for about 10 years, but then made a decision to quit this very stable job to travel. While I understand that this is not very uncommon in western countries, but for someone in India, it is considered as a crazy thing to do.

When it comes to conversations, she's very natural at it. She has a gifted ability to make friends in a few seconds. I sometimes look at her in awe, how wonderful she's (I'm not saying that because she's my wife). She wishes to travel the world and later open a hostel or a homestay for travelers to stay with us.

Update:
We put a pause to our travel post Covid, and we stayed in Jaipur during this period. We are back on the road. We travelled to Auroville and Dharamsala recently. We are in Kazakhstan at the moment. This is the first time we are traveling to a central Asian country. We are interested in learning more about this region, culture and other aspects of life. We love to talk and have deep discussions. If you are someone who shares these interests, please write to us.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

As a couple, we are passionate about traveling. This surely is our first love after each other ;-) We love to explore new places, meet new people and understanding new cultures. We are pretty new here, but according to our understanding, all of this correctly aligns with Couchsurfing goals. We would like to experience a place in the most authentic way.

While we have no issues in spending money on our stays, we love the fact that Couchsurfing removes this commercial angle from the experience of travels and gets people close to each other.

Interests

Travel takes the first place and photography complements it at every place. When I'm not traveling or taking pictures, I consult for startups in the tech domain. I love folk music from all around the world.

• design
• photography
• cooking
• recipes
• traveling
• coding
• software

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I traveled to remote Himalayas solo in 2016. After walking 10 days, alone, there were moments of life and death. Had it not been for a kind-hearted stranger, a local from the Himalayan valley, I would probably not be alive. Remind me about it when we meet and I'll tell you what happened!

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm good at photography, can surely give some tips
I'm a professional software developer, product person. I can have endless conversations around it.
As a couple, we can't stop talking about our stories. If you want recommendations on travels, we sure would be happy to help.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Number of tales from our travels to distant parts of India
Learn some Indian cooking with us, we would love to learn some new recipes from you also.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

India