I'm a traveler, a great cook who loves to feed people with delicious recipes, an enthu(siastic) cutlet with a sense of awe, wonder and amazement of a 3-year old. I believe experiences and not money makes a person rich. These are things none can take away from you.

I paint and I'm into DIYing big time. I love rescuing or reviving things and breathing a new life into them. I write, random thoughts mostly.

I wonder at the miracles that happen in the cosmos each day, how two strangers meet, how the divine steps in at every single moment to guide us, how things turn out eventually. I'm in awe of them.

It's funny how we are all connected in a strange way.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Even without this site, I was Couchsurfing already, just in the narrow lanes, remote villages and distant mountains of India, where people hadn’t and still might not have heard about Couchsurfing. People just welcome with open arms and let you stay with them without seeking anything in return. Just on the basis of mutual trust, camaraderie and love. There sure is a transaction there too but not of money.... but of love.

There is no better way to travel than to immerse oneself totally in it. How else would I know why a certain village takes pride in its culture, values, and ethos or how is a cuisine made and why is a particular folk song sung on a particular occasion?

Honestly, travel has and continues to teach me more about life than my school and college education ever has. It has taught me to give and receive love, kindness, compassion, and generosity. It is the school, I never went to. Surprisingly enough, these quintessential lessons in life have mostly been taught to me by men, women, and children who have never been to schools themselves. That explains, right?

That's the only kind of travel I know ever since I started traveling solo. I've stayed at the smallest of huts (called bhunga) in Bhuj on the Indo-Pak border village and experienced the most magnanimous of hearts of people who took me in and welcomed me. And I only got back richer with all the love and beauty shining through my being.

Interests

My interests include reading anything that I can lay my hands on about consciousness, humanity, love and faith, human potential, effortlessness, and surrender.

It is love that makes the world tick. It is the biggest, most humbling transaction there is. You sense it in the food someone cooks after hours of patient cooking, or the little things that someone takes care of while you're staying with them.

I love doing things with love, attention, and mindfulness. After all, love is in the details or God is in the details.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• books
• performing arts
• cooking
• meditation
• painting
• drawing
• music
• solo travel
• mountains
• eating
• food
• travelling
• nature
• trekking
• people
• love
• humanity
• faith
• personal growth
• human potential
• courage
• rumi
• travel courage

Music, Movies, and Books

Music

Whether it is Mark Isham's 'Building a Family', Luciana Zogbi's cover of 'All of Me', Sigur Ros' 'Untitled #3' and
' Untitled #6', Ludovico Einaudi's 'La prima bicicletta' Yann Tiersen's tracks from Amelie or M.S. Subbulakshmi's 'Suprabhatam', I've had these bring me to my knees and make me cry inconsolably.

I listen to Hindi, Hindustani (Hindi & Urdu), English, Tamil, Punjabi songs but then I have Assamese, Bangla, Malayalam, French and Spanish tracks as well in my playlists. Instrumental and classical music is a huge hit with me. I wonder there's so much more music out there around the world that I haven't yet listened to. For this reason, World Radio is also one of my top channels on the Internet.

Movies

Movies that glorify the indomitable human spirit are my favorite, hence war movies are a great genre. Also, movies based on real-life stories of grit, courage, and determination are a favorite too. There are just too many to name here. Mar Adentro, La Lengua de Mariposas, No fathers in Kashmir, Whiplash, Wild, Unbroken, Before Sunset, Lars and the Real Girl, Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight, The Pianist, The Ship of Thesus, 12 Year a Slave, Erin Brockovich, The Color Purple, Sylvia, Interstellar, Hidden Figures, Hacksaw Ridge, Manchester by the Sea, Departures (Jap.), Kolya (Czech), Sonny Boy (Netherlands), The Stoning of Soraya (Iran), Of Gods and Men (French), Cherry Blossoms (German), A Time for Drunken Horses (Kurdish). These are only a few I somewhat remembered. Hindi, I won't even start here :)

Books

I'm a fan of the stories about the underdog, the minority, the oppressed and the traumatized for whatever reasons and how they defeat the circumstances or are unable to. Khaled Hosseini, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Elid Shafak, Alice Walker are a few of my favorites.

I love reading poetry. Rumi can always be found in my bag. Maya Angelou always manages to inspire me. Apart from these, non-fiction, autobiographies are my favorites too.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

* I've done the Everest Base Camp (EBC) trek in Nepal.

* I summitted the 6153 mtr Stok Kangri peak in Ladakh, India. Met so many interesting people, made new friends, reunited with old ones, ate incredible ladakhi food, played with toddlers, picked and ate farm-fresh chulis (apricots) and kushus (apples), danced in a contemporary dance class, had an overnight Bonfire with new friends, visited three villages in Ladakh and stayed with locals.

* I've backpacked solo through 6 districts of Nagaland. Visited caves that are not on tourist maps with total strangers who I didn't know until 2 hours before.

* I've traveled solo in my country (believe me in my country it is a biig thing for a woman :)), to the tiniest of villages on Indo-Pak, or Indo-China border, stayed with villagers, mountain guides, shepherds, paddy farmers, carpenters, and artisans.

Teach, Learn, Share

* At the moment teach in Spain. And I've always taught underprivileged kids in my country. As I love traveling, wherever I go, I look for opportunities to teach kids in village govt and private sector schools.

* Very open to learning anything about a new culture and especially new recipes from around the world.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My great cooking skills, a great sense of humor, my love for food and travel, authentic conversations, straight from my heart.

Apart from these a great camaraderie, inquisitiveness and a sense of wonder of a 3-year-old, as if looking at the world for the first time.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Bhutan, Italy, Maldives, Nepal, Singapore, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, India, Spain