CURRENT MISSION

The longer mission is get a caravan, tuck in our dog and drive across the world. Stop just about anywhere, write novels and photograph lives that we befriend along the way. Live happily.

ABOUT ME

We believe there's only one way to spend your life meaningfully on earth. It's by traveling and meeting people. Because nothing beats curiosity and one can never learn everything.

Diya's daytime job involves playing with big data to solve global development issues. Her past job includes speaking and mentoring hundreds of thousands of young people across Bangladesh, who have amazing ideas and are itching to find their voice. Children from divorced parents, young girls caught up in early marriage, school kids who walk 5 kilometers every day to end up in a classroom, young musicians and artists looking to score a gig - you name it and we've worked with them. The more we meet people, the more we realize how connected we are.

Simu is the editor of a monthly children's magazine with a deep passion for plants, aliens, weather conditions, technology, automobiles and random DIYs. He's a writer and worked for over a decade on satire and humor pieces.

We've grown up traveling. As individuals, we love being surprised, exploring unknown destinations, cycling around and chasing our dog. As a couple, we love traveling, eating at the craziest restaurants and good music.

PHILOSOPHY

We love what we do, we do what we love.

UPDATES

Recently we move to Dhaka/Toronto from Singapore.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We look forward to meeting people and making friends from all over the world, and offer a warm bed and great conversations to anyone coming to any of the cities we live in (current New Orleans). Our doors are open and we love to share our stories while learning from yours.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We've hosted several friends from around the world at our humble abode and it's been fantastic. On a trip to Northern Bangladesh, where we drove 1500 kilometers in 14 days (a rare thing amongst Bangladeshis), we met locals at tea bazaars or gas stations who offered us their homes for the night. The classic backpackers experience tied with a night full of conversations and new friendships.

Interests

Literature, art, music, movies, striped carpets, Chinese inventions, TIME magazine covers, Just for Laugh GAGS, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, The Big Bang Theory, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Superman, Wolverine, typography, black holes, large water bodies, all kinds of dogs, fish, food, guitar riffing, watching food shows, computer parts, latest mobile apps, motorbikes, photography, and clean white pillows.

• dogs
• fish
• arts
• writing
• literature
• photography
• tango
• dining
• technology
• news
• movies
• traveling
• cars
• socializing
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• fishing
• bungee jumping
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite movies include A Beautiful Mind, Amelie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Never Let Me Go, Girl on a Bicycle, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Into the Wild, Shutter Island, Inception, Tangled, Wall-E, Up, Finding Nemo, Closer, etc. etc. Tons of local movies as well - we'll burn you a DVD if you're coming to visit us or host as at your home.

Favorite musicians include Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Coldplay, Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams, The Beatles, Matchbox 20, Adele, The Corrs, Linkin Park, Vitamin String Quartet, etc. etc. Not to mention an array of local musicians and bands.

We're both writers and have a medium-sized library at our place. Books are in both English and Bengali. Our favorite authors, amongst many many, include Marquez, John Grisham, Satyajit Ray, Humayun Ahmed, Sunil Gangapaddhay, Vikram Seth, Arundhati Roy, Roald Dahl, George Orwell, Mario Puzo, Mark Twain, Edgar Allen Poe, Milan Kundera, Isaac Asimov, T.S. Elliot, Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, etc. etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Giving birth to our daughter
Traveled to 55 cities 'round the world before 25th birthday
Parasailing on the coastlines
Bungee jumping in Vancouver and Netherlands
Skydiving in Washington DC
Tango danced in Shanghai
Mentored 5000 youth in leadership and creative thinking
Learning to cook

Teach, Learn, Share

Bengali is one of the top ten most spoken languages of the world, and we would love to teach you the basics while learn a few words from your native language.

As entrepreneurs and writers, we're well connected with new innovations, current affairs and hidden gems. You'll always know the news first and visit the rarest of places in our company.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Language, memories, discovering unknown parts of the country, cheap ways to do cool things, humor and friendship.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, United States