There is this verse from the Taittiriya Upanishad (A chapter in the Vedas) that I'd like to call out here - अतिथिदेवो भव (Athithi Devo Bhava). There are multiple ways to interpret the verse, but the obvious one is: "The guest is equivalent to God!".

"A-thithi Devo Bhava"

Thithi in Sanskrit denotes a (calendrical) date. In ancient times, when means of communication were limited and it was not possible for guests to anticipate their date of arrival, atithi (which literally means "without a fixed calendrical time") was coined to depict a visiting person who had no fixed date of arrival or departure. Devo means God and Bhava means Be or Is - "be the one for whom the Guest is God".

Kinda goes hand in hand with CouchSurfing, don't you think? :-)

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CS Surfers,

Welcome to India! The Country that treats their guests as Gods! The land has so much to offer right from spiritual journeys, mouth watering food to relaxing vacations far from your home. Expect abundant surprises as you travel across India - our languages, cuisines, culture, art forms differ every few hundred kilometers. No wonder we are proud of our motto "Unity in Diversity" :)

The Indian CS community has been growing in the recent past and I'm sure you should be able to find some or other hosts across the cities you'll be travelling. Plan well, build your India CS network, update your hosts in advance & enjoy your trip across the peninsula!

If you are visiting Bangalore and/or would like to know more about me, please feel free to go through further. Do not miss to read the "Teach, Learn, Share" part.

Regards,
Sanjeev

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MY CURRENT MISSION

Time to settle down in life - just married to my childhood sweetheart last February. And of course, planning to host loads of surfers.

ABOUT ME

I was born to a Brahmin family in the suburbs of Chennai. I completed my primary education close to my home and then moved across various cities of Tamil Nadu for my higher education. My childhood was filled with a lot of learnings from my Dad - Electronics, Mechanics, Chemical stuff, the Holy Vedas & Pujas. When my parents introduced me to Computers, I knew I found my philosopher's stone. It was love at first sight. From then on, I never looked back and I constantly pursued my learnings and education in the field of Computer Science. After graduation, I joined my dream company that I currently work for - Microsoft.

Owing to the different work location, I had to move to Bangalore. It's been 4 years now, phew!

The best thing about my work is that it keeps me engaged with people from around the world. With this experience, I've now become more of a culture detective & enthusiast. That makes me fall in love with people I've never met and places I've never been to. At one point, I had so much urge to travel that I couldn't resist but travel across the Schengen. :-)

I'm a calm and a friendly person. When I meet new people, I tend to become talkative. I'm a geek and I reverse engineer anything computers at work & outside. I love to travel, camp, swim and hike.

Currently, I'm experimenting with new dishes and sharpening my bachelor cooking skills. If you are planning to visit my home, you know what to expect :)

I've hosted surfers from China, Japan, USA, Chile, Venezuela, Finland & Philippine so far (Thanks to my friend Vikas for facilitating the CS requests & taking care of the logistics!). Looking to host the entire world soon!

If "wanderlust, restlessness, the constant urge to travel the world" resonate with you, be sure that you've a friend awaiting to meet you at Bangalore! ;)

MY AVAILABILITY

* Dec - Open
* Jan - Open until 17th.
* Feb - Closed
* Mar - Open
* Apr - Open

Reference for Athithi Devo Bhava: www.Wikipedia.org

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I live at this humble place at the heart of Bangalore city. I have been hosting a lot of surfers at my home and it has been a pleasant experience so far. I generally like to spend quality time with my surfers. I love to take them around the city - fancy malls, local restaurants, nightlife & top attractions! But, if you're here for some personal work and just need a place to stay - I'm okay with that too! I take a great pleasure in joining my surfers in mapping their vacation across India.

If you are staying elsewhere and would like to meet up, I'd love that too.

A new place brings in a lot of adventures and India gives you no less of it. It's always good to be prepared for your travel across India. If this is your first time in India - I'd be more than happy to brief you the basics of getting around, safety precautions, budget travelling, etc.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

Interests

People - their Language and Culture. Love to understand the lifestyle of people from different parts of the world.

• arts
• culture
• books
• perfumes
• education
• dining
• cooking
• cheese
• coffee
• running
• walking
• nightlife
• drinking
• electronics
• shopping
• clothing
• news
• traveling
• hiking
• camping
• swimming
• computer science
• teaching
• emergency services
• engineering
• geography
• languages
• medicine
• philosophy
• science
• tourism
• budget travel
• sightseeing

Music, Movies, and Books

I love Indian Classical, Bollywood & Western pop music. I'm not much of a movie buff, but again, I don't miss movies like Interstellar, Gravity & Avatar. Fan of Paulo Coelho's writing. For my Intellectual satisfaction I engross myself into books like "What got you here won't get you there", "Good to Great" (this book was suggested to my by Steve Ballmer (ex-CEO of Microsoft), "Thinking Fast and Slow" (my new found love).

If there's one book that I should suggest you... That'd be... "Business Sutra by Devdutt Patnaik". It might sound like a business/management book. But it gives so many perspectives of the Indian & Western culture, just enough that you could trip on it for a week. You can find this book and his other works at amzn.to/1xclXgJ

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My solo trip around Europe. My friend and myself celebrated our Birthdays at Europe. I covered parts of France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

Teach, Learn, Share

INFO TO HELP YOU IN YOUR TRAVEL

If you are a first time visitor to India, the surprises/challenges can be exasperating and the crush of humanity may turn the simplest task into a frazzling. Veteran travelers know that the key to survive India (& any country for that matter) is to have an open mindset about the experiences. Set the right expectations, have a go-with-the-flow attitude; I'm sure you'll love the experiences in India.

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Geography Lesson:
Take time to go through the list of States & Union territories in India - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_union_territories_of_India

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Stay abreast of the latest happenings (NEWS): (Very Important)
www.NDTV.com
www.TheHindu.com
www.TheTimesOfIndia.com

Before your travel make sure to keep yourself updated with the latest info regarding India from your respective Embassies.

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As soon as you enter India, have these numbers stored:
1. Ambulance - 102
2. Police - 100
3. Emergency assistance like 911 is - 108
4. Fire service - 101
5. Your Embassy's address & phone number.

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Airways (Booking):
www.makemytrip.com
www.cleartrip.com
www.skyscanner.co.in (for price comparison)

IndiGo, Go Air, Jet Airways, AirAsia, Air India are preferred carriers across India. SpiceJet airlines is going through some hiccups and IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED to book your travel with this carrier.

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Railways:
www.irctc.co.in

Tickets get sold off quickly and hence it is advisable to book a month or two in advance. Sometimes the ticket might get waitlisted if the train is already full. In such cases, check the wait list status. Generally if you are wait listed 50 or below, there is a very good chance that your ticket will get confirmed.
Preferred class of travel is as usual: 1st Class > 2 Tier AC = AC Chair Car > 3 Tier AC > Sleeper = Chair Car/2nd Sitting.
It is important to know that the trains run late almost all the time. If you have a connection or a transit, keep a buffer of upto 3-5 hours for short travel & 5-10 hours for long distances.

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Roadways (Booking):
www.redbus.in (across India)
www.ksrtc.in (across Karnataka)

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Radio Taxis:
www.meru.com
www.olacabs.com
www.taxiforsure.com

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TukTuks (Or Autos/Autorickshaws) for Local Travel:
You can find a tuktuk anywhere - cities, towns & villages. Make sure you ask the driver to switch the meter ON. Do not accept, I mean do not accept for the fare the driver quotes to you. Enquire a localite about the distance, shortest route, expected fare, etc. before getting on to a tuktuk. Sometimes the auto drivers are rude and it is advisable not to have much conversations with them. Do not once again, I repeat do not let the auto driver ferry you to a place of his choice - such as to a restaurant, hotel/lodge, craft emporiums, etc.

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Bangalore City Transport:
City Buses - www.mybmtc.com
City Metro - www.bmrc.co.in
Hop on Hop Off (Bangalore sight seeing) - http://www.mybmtc.com/bangalore-rounds

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FINDING ACCOMMODATION

Hotels across India & Bangalore:
www.booking.com
www.makemytrip.com
www.cleartrip.com

Paying Guest in Bangalore:
www.payingguestinbangalore.com
www.magicbricks.com
www.pgguest.com

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LANGUAGE:
Hindi is understood across North, East & West India. However in South, they prefer to converse in their respective languages. For a traveler like you, I'd say that if you know English (or broken English), you should be able to survive in India. If you'd like to sink in with us already, you can start learning some basic Hindi here - http://www.newdelhiairport.in/simple-terms-in-hindi.aspx

ATMs/BANK:
Visa, Maestro, MasterCard are accepted across all the ATMs. In cities you will find the ATMs to be available across every 2 streets or so. But in villages, it could be less or sometimes you might not be able to find one. Having said that, keep your dependency on the ATMs low. This is because the ATMs sometimes go out of cash or are on maintenance. It is always advisable to carry some amount of cash with you for emergency.

SHOPPING:
Most of the shops in Cities accept credit/debit cards. AMEX is not widely accepted, but definitely MasterCard, Maestro & Visa are accepted throughout. In smaller shops you might have to pay a transaction fee of 2%. In villages/small towns, you cannot expect them to accept cards - Only cash.
If you are a foreigner to India, you can sometimes be vulnerable. Shopkeepers/Sellers might want to cheat you by overpricing the goods. Sometimes you might end up paying three or four times the actual price. If you are not very familiar with bargaining, try these simple tricks:
- Reject the price atleast 4 times.
- You decide a price (atleast 3 times lesser) and suggest that to the seller
- Try walking away from the shop/seller and expect a special price reduction
- Do not show that you are interested. That will make them quote a higher price.

To shop online, you can try these sites:
- www.FlipKart.com (Electronics, Books, Clothing, Perfume, etc.)
- www.Amazon.in ( -do- )
- www.Myntra.com (Clothing)
- www.Jabong.com (Clothing)

FOOD:
Across India, you will have food that is hot & spicy. Rice & Wheat Indian Bread are our staple food and we eat them with pulses. Curries are like sauces and they are very hot. Pickles could be extremely hot. Be open to a different kind of (adventurous) food very different from that of your home. Not to mention, do keep a balance in what you eat in India. You definitely don't want to fall sick & upset your stomach.

The following food should save your day:
- Dosa (Like French Crepes made of rice flour)
- Idly (rice cakes)
- Chappati/Roti (Wheat bread. If our curries are too spicy, you can try eating them with some jam).
- Curd/Yogurt rice
- Dal rice (ask for less spicy)
- Rava Upma

You can always get sandwich bread, cheese, veggies & fruits. If nothing else works, this is the best :-)

Importantly, do not venture for street food unless you are guided by a localite. Street food is not very safe and it could make you very sick.

PERSONAL SAFETY:
India is generally a safe country. Like the usual advise, it is recommended that you stay indoors after 10 PM. Do not go to shady places. Pickpocketing is usual and have your cash, cards & passports in the money belt bit.ly/1tv58hD. Women should generally stay out of speaking to strangers and not entertain a lot of conversation. Do not, I repeat Do not eat food/chocolates given to you by strangers especially during your bus/train travel.

MEDICINES & HEALTH:
A lot of travel could be very straining and could sometimes take toll on your body. Temperatures in India are mostly on the upper side and hence it is always recommended that you keep yourself hydrated. Drinking what we call the "mineral water" such as The Himalayan, Bisleri, Aquafina, Kinley water will keep you away from many viruses.
You should always carry a medicine kit with you for emergency. You can always come over to India and get the following tablets from a local pharmacy:
1. Paracetamol - Crocin, Dolo
2. Antacid - Gelucil, Digene
3. Stomach Pain - Dependal
4. Allergies - Cetirizine
This is definitely not an exhaustive list & not to mention, it is always good to consult a physician before taking any meds.

SAFE LOO GUIDE:
You might not be able to find toilets at all in public places. Even if you find, they would be really bad and in an unusable state. There are pay & use toilets, but they wouldn't be upto the mark. Ofcourse, you might not want to use any of them to avoid infections of any sort.
Restaurants, hospitals & commercial establishments have clean toilets. If you are in a village/town, you can just knock any of the homes around and ask for their permission to use their restroom. People generally don't shoo you away so don't feel shy!
And, if you didn't know, Indians do not use the western style lavatories. You might not find toilet papers :) . Make sure you search enough information in the Internet before venturing out :)

WHAT COULD ANNOY YOU IN BANGALORE:
Well Bangalore is infamous for the volume of traffic. Commuting between two places could be hectic in Bangalore. Someone who is not used to the traffic could feel nauseous. So, when you pick your accommodation make sure it is within a radius of 5 KMs. Travelling 10 KM would take over an hour and 30 would be 3.5 Hours ;-)

If you have anything to add or update in this list, please message me.

What I Can Share with Hosts

You can use my Washing Machine, Laptop, WiFi, my XBOX, Food & lots of Coffee!

Countries I’ve Visited

France, Germany, India, Italy, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

India