I am an easy-going , friendly ( I can be a little reserved initially) graduate student who wants to travel a lot and explore the world. But like most students, I am mostly broke :D I plan to pursue a PhD in Economics (so I am going to remain poor for another few years atleast :P ).
I was born and brought up in India and I have traveled quite a bit in India (but then, hey! India is huge and diverse and you can't really get enough of it. So don't blame me if still there are places I haven't even heard of). Mostly when I am travelling, I do visit the famous tourist spots just for the sake of completeness, but what I enjoy more is aimlessly wandering about the place or even just sitting down at some quiet, remote location and enjoying the feeling associated with it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I discovered Couchsurfing a couple of years ago when I decided to cycle from Kanpur to Lucknow (about 100 km) with a college friend of mine and we needed a place at Lucknow to spend the night before cycling back to Kanpur again the next morning. Our hosts turned out to be amazing people and I fell in love with the concept of Couchsurfing. Also, I realized Couchsurfing is so much more than just free/cheap accommodation. I don't think there is a better way to explore a new place than through the eyes of a local and Couchsurfing is the best way to meet more travel enthusiasts on the move. I would any day prefer staying with a local and experiencing the culture of the place rather than staying at a hotel.

Interests

Playing and watching tennis (I am a big fan of Roger Federer) and cricket (don't speak a word against Tendulkar) :P I also enjoy watching soccer (although am not a fanatic!)

Trekking and mountain biking. I have been on a few treks in Northern India and I wish to do a lot lot more of those. I went mountain biking in Spiti Valley (Himachal Pradesh) but the weather played spoilsport and we had to stop and retreat after two days. So it is one of my aims in the near future to cycle across Spiti successfully.

Apart from that I like to read (mostly non-fiction), spend time with friends and talk a lot ( or as we say in college lingo - "bulla kaatna"). I like photography and wish to buy my own DSLR very soon. In the final years of my undergrad, started exploring Card and Board games through a hobby group in my college - so I like Dominion, Exploding Kittens, Sushi-Go, Catan to name a few.

Living outside India during the last two summers forced me to learn how to cook and I realize that I actually enjoy cooking, especially if it is cooking with people!

• dogs
• photography
• cooking
• running
• board games
• traveling
• cycling
• backpacking
• cricket
• soccer
• tennis
• economics
• mountain biking
• trekking
• vegetarian cooking

Music, Movies, and Books

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's music - The guy was simply a genius. Apart from that I can just listen to anything and everything (depending on my mood) but I do enjoy Bollywood music (particularly from 1960s- 90s and early 2000s), Coke Studio, Coldplay, Steven Wilson, Parov Stelar and Pink Floyd (when I'm high :P).

Again, not a very big movie buff but I have watched quite a lot of movies (mostly Bollywood and Hollywood, and some not so mainstream Indian cinema) and so the list of favourites is quite long. :P

Books: I mostly read non-fiction and popular science. Personal favourites are autobiographies of Andre Agassi, Lance Armstrong, Richard P. Feynman, and some popular science books like Freakonomics, Thinking Fast and Slow, The Tell-Tale Brain. In fiction, I love Khaled Hosseini's work - the Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Sons. And I enjoy reading PG Wodehouse, Murakami, and Neil Gaiman.

**Calvin and Hobbes remain an all-time favourite**

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1. Cycling in the mountains in near zero-temperature when it started to rain unexpectedly. We did not have any waterproof clothing but had to keep going for about 20-25km until we found a village. I don't know how we managed to survive and avoid falling off some cliff because we could hardly feel our hands to press the brakes and were shivering uncontrollably.

2. Another one during the same trip was when we cycled on mountains in pitch darkness for about an hour to reach our destination (just had a small pocket flashlight).

3. Fallen asleep under a sky full of stars :)

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach Hindi if someone is interested. Or how to play tennis :'D and the basics of photography. Also, I can teach how to cook a few dishes from Indian cuisine.

I really want to learn a musical instrument (preferably drums/guitar - well actually my personal favourite is tabla but I guess I am just incapable to learn that now :P ). Just a word of caution - I am artistically challenged when it comes to music!

Also, I would love to learn something in art - Sketching/ Sand art.. anything!

What I Can Share with Hosts

My experiences ... and a new friend from India :D
Also, I can be a cook for you (although I can only cook vegetarian food!)

Countries I’ve Visited

Israel, Netherlands, Palestine, Portugal, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, Israel, United Kingdom, United States