CURRENT MISSION

Travel. Understand cultures. Find adventure. Share experiences. Become a better person.

ABOUT ME

** Update (29-July-2013) **
I am done with my trip to Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Ethiopia. Pics in some time.
** End **

I enjoy meeting new people and listening to their experiences, and also observe people and situations to find patterns and make jokes. Overall, I try to find new things and understand them in depth. Privately, I spend large chunks of time reading or exploring something (in technology or culture or social studies). I need to charge my batteries after being socially active for many days. Guess that is why I like traveling for long durations: it provides all that I love to do!

I have lived in India apart from short stints in Hong Kong and Seoul. Just wrapped up two years working in Bangalore as a Engineer after graduating from college in 2011. Picked the travel and culture bug around 2009.

Amazed at the enormity of the world and diversity in cultures. Now wondering about how to process what I learn to be of value to society.

PHILOSOPHY

As David Foster Wallace says, "The capital T Truth is not life after death, it's Life Before Death".

(Irony of providing my personal philosophy in someone else's words is not lost on me :| )

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been unable to host anyone on CS before because my houseowner did not agree. Will do that in my independent place.

I have also not couchsurfed before. All plans have fallen flat, many at the last moment.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

A friend was a CouchSurfer and we joked about putting wheels on an old couch and running with it at midnight in the city, still raring to do it.

I have attended CS meetups in Bangalore and became friends with interesting folks.

Interests

Reading: Mostly non-fiction or fiction with philosophical undertones

Music: Been through many phases, currently hung on songs without lyrics: EDM, Post Rock, Chillstep. Do not sing/play any instrument sadly.

Webcomics: Old hobby, died hard as I moved to other things but still keep checking my favourite ones occasionally.

Guffawing: I laugh hard.

Food: Like trying new dishes but mostly think of food as functional items, not art. I know, many friends differ on that :)

• arts
• culture
• singing
• dining
• indian food
• running
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• music
• scuba diving
• engineering

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: http://www.shelfari.com/o1515062457/shelf

Shows: The Wire, Modern Family, Curb your Enhusiasm

Movies: Basketball Diaries, Shawshank Redemption, Into the Wild, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Hangover, Chunking Express, The Butterfly Effect, Run Lola Run, Swordfish, Wong-Kar Wai, Documentatries.

Music: Porcupine Tree, Beatles, Coldplay, Oasis, Slash, Guns N Roses, Riverside, The Doors, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Outkast, Wu-Tang Clan, David Guetta, God Is An Astronaut, Daft Punk

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

First bearded man to be hugged by Korean girls.

Scuba diving as an amateur. Intend to do my next one as a pro, enough money burnt in one-off dives.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach:
English (spoken + script). Indian food and culture. How to travel in a bus hanging by a hand. Evolution of hip-hop.

Learn: Anything my host would teach me. About culture, food habits or anything else.

Countries I’ve Visited

Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Jordan, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, India, South Korea

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