CURRENT MISSION

To learn Spanish and discover great stories.

ABOUT ME

I was born in San Jose, grew up in India, went to college in Austin, worked in Seattle, and now am on the road.

I love writing, mostly lit fiction. It's what I spend most of my free time on. And I'm really into traveling; nothing like winging a trip to a beautiful city.

I quit my job at the end of April 2014 and am traveling for a while. Will be traveling in the US and in South America.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I haven't Couchsurfed before, but am hoping to meet a lot of great people in the community. I'm going to be travelling starting the end of April 2014, and so hope to host folks once I've settled down after my trip.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None so far, but looking forward to Couchsurfing!

Interests

I'm excited about the opportunity to write as I travel over the coming months. Some of the pieces I've written can be seen here: http://www.niyantha.com/writing

I'm really into portait photography. Inspired by Brandon Stanton's Humans of New York, I've been working on a People Photos series for the past few months: http://www.niyantha.com/tagged/people-photos

I LOVE reading. Some recent favorites include The Hours, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The Lowland and Norwegian Wood.

I enjoy discovering new music. I recently completed a year with my Song of the Day playlist on Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/user/niyantha_1988/playlist/4206F8ZUmytAo0YP87MbjM)

• writing
• photography
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• music
• camping
• computer science
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Most things P.G. Wodehouse. A Visit From The Goon Squad. Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe. The Legend of Pradeep Mathew. The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Saraswati Park. On The Road. Steve Martin's fiction. Delicate Edible Birds (a tremendous short story by Lauren Groff). RK Narayan's novels. Never Any End to Paris. Things Fall Apart. Tolstoy's short stories. Norwegian Wood. Tenth of December. Farewell to Arms.

Movies: Before Sunrise. Before Sunset. Before Midnight. Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Garden State. Anbe Sivam. 500 Days of Summer. Kannathil Muthamittal. Paris, je t'aime. Dil Chahta Hai. Midnight in Paris. The Bicycle Thief. Into the Wild. Rachel Getting Married. Perks of Being a Wallflower. Monty Python and The Holy Grail. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The Dark Knight. The Motorcycle Diaries. Almost Famous.

Shows: Slings & Arrows. The Office. Arrested Development. The West Wing. Louie. Black Adder. Scrubs. Parks & Rec. Curb Your Enthusiasm. The Daily Show. Long Way Round.

Music: Grew up listening to AR Rahman, and he continues to kill it (listened to Aaromale while standing beneath a waterfall, best shower ever). The Beatles. Nitin Sawhney. Gustavo Santaolalla. John Mayer. Anoushka Shankar. L Subramaniam. Mandolin Srinivas. Coldplay. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Remember Shakti. Frank Sinatra. Dean Martin.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I used to be afraid of heights. But then I jumped off a bridge into the Ganges in Hrishikesh, India as part of an adventure camp and I'm not afraid of heights anymore.

Teach, Learn, Share

I studied Computer Science in college, worked for a tech company for almost four years, and have finished two certificate programs in Literary Fiction. So those are just some of the areas I would be happy to have conversations about and share what I know.

Countries I’ve Visited

Czech Republic, Hungary

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, United States