Hello! I'm Neilabh! I'm from India and I moved to Leiden the Netherlands to study Global History and am now in a PhD programme. I study pictures :D Pictures of plants, animals, stones, insects, (and sometimes people!) made in Europe and Asia. I completed an M.Phil. in Colonial and Global History in Leiden in the Netherlands in November 2017.

If I could do it, I think I'd like to live in a mountain village in the past (maybe four hundred years back) or in the middle of nature. Since that isn't likely to occur, I have learned to enjoy some things about living in the city. I particularly enjoy being in musea and listening to live music, or just having a chat with pleasant people that I run into :)

I'm a fairly social person, not particularly flamboyant but I can and will talk about almost anything under the sun. I enjoy talking to all kinds of people. Being a foreigner really helps with that, since I have no way to judge people and (I hope) vice-versa.

One thing I've discovered about myself recently--partly from necessity!--is that I can cook pretty damn well. This is very important since my social life consists, to a large degree, of calling friends over to cook with! Goat/lamb in an onion-based gravy is my speciality (thanks Ma!) though I'm pretty confident with any kind of Indian food by now :P I'm not a hardcore non-vegetarian though (I eat meat maybe once or twice a week) and I love my veggies. I'm a sucker for South Indian food and anything Southeast Asian. Actually, pretty much anything spicy gets me going. On the other hand though, I strongly believe that anything cooked with care and love is bound to be yum!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Particularly when I'm travelling by myself, it's nice to meet people from the area I'm travelling to. I was introduced to couchsurfing via friends at university in Delhi, who would host interesting people from everywhere. I enjoy meeting people from other places because as I have no pre-formed ideas about them and they don't have any about me either. Which always makes for interesting interactions. I especially enjoy cooking together with other people. I love watching people's expressions when they taste a flavour they never imagined even existed. I honestly believe cooking is one of the best social lubricants there is. Since I'm interested in ideas (and art!) from all over Europe and Asia, I am eager to discuss them from people from the place I am visiting as well! The idea behind my research is that when you meet people for the first time, it makes for a very interesting and creative discussion if you are open to new ideas that you wouldn't think about alone. I like to test this out in my own life as well!

Interests

• photography
• cooking
• eating out
• music
• hiking
• reading book

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share my love of cooking for sure! Read above to get an extensive idea ;)

I can teach you how to greet (or curse!) in at least four different languages. I do love comparing how things work in different languages and those conversations are always great!

My research is about how--four hundred years ago or so--it was much easier for people from different parts of the world to have conversations with each other. I primarily try to understand this by looking at how art from one culture was understood by another. So I can tell you a little about pictures of nature and mythology made four hundred years ago and how Indians and Europeans looked at such paintings from each others' culture!

I also enjoy photography and have pictures from everywhere I've been to, which I am always happy to show people.

Music is one thing that I love sharing and receiving as well. I have many favourite genres and listen to all kinds of music depending on the mood I'm in (or the one I want to be in!). I'm always really happy to learn about music I've never heard before and also to introduce people to new music.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Bhutan, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, Netherlands, United States