When Debashis Sil’s mobile phone trilled very late one August night, he thought something had either gone terribly wrong somewhere or a friend had consumed too many bottles of beer and forgotten the time. It was neither. It was, in fact, a call from an Australian tourist who had landed at Calcutta airport.

“Alison Hughes had posted a message on www.couchsurfing.com’s Calcutta group, saying that she would be coming to the city, and I had offered to host her. But I didn’t know the date of her arrival and the call at 2 am came as a bit of a shock,” recalls Sil. The 31-year- old financial consultant drove to the airport and brought Hughes to his Salt Lake home.

He doesn’t like calling it a favour. “It is every couchsurfer’s responsibility to help whenever somebody from our community is in town,” he says. It is this strong community feeling that made Hughes trust Sil, whom she had never met before.

Couchsurfing is a term that’s become popular in recent years after the founding of hospitality network site CouchSurfing.com on the Internet in 2004. Surfing the couch means spending a night or two at a host’s place in a new city or a new country, more often than not, for free.

When Sil joined the site two years ago and told his parents about his intention to host unknown foreigners, they were a little wary of what it entailed. “When I told them that I could also stay at somebody’s place if I went abroad and that it was totally safe, they understood,” he says. Since then, he has hosted five visitors and also “surfed” the couch in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

For those struck by wanderlust but short of funds, hospitality network sites such as www.couchsurfing.com (known simply as CS) and www.hospitalityclub.org could offer a solution or two. The two sites have a combined membership of around five lakh people from more than 200 countries. CS’s Calcutta group has some 200 members. Other such sites include www.globalfreeloaders.com, www.stay4free.com, www.travelhoo.com and www.bewelcome.org.

Couchsurfers can interact with others after registering themselves on these hospitality networks. But to gain the trust of other members, they need to provide as much information as possible about themselves. These include their contact details, references from other surfers from their city, willingness to host guests and photographs.

It’s not mandatory for couchsurfers to lend their homes to travellers. For instance, Rajat Kothary, who is a popular couchsurfer from Calcutta with scores of references and vouches by grateful guests, has never offered his central Calcutta home to a foreigner because of lack of space. He has, however, helped dozens of people from different parts of the world to get the right accommodation and has also taken them around the city.

“The last thing foreigners want to do is travel to places that have been mentioned in tour guides. When they come to me, they ask me to take them to interesting places, and that’s what I do,” he says. They in turn have showered Kothary with gifts and tokens of appreciation. A Japanese guest recently shipped him a kimono.

The concept of hospitality networks is not new. In fact, it was way back in 1949 that an American called Bob Luitweiler launched Servas, which continues to operate through a network of hosts around the world who are interested in “opening their doors to travellers.” Over the years Servas has undergone changes and now registers people online (www.servas.org). People in India can register themselves through www.indiaservas.org.

“Our process may be a little lengthy, but it is very safe as we ensure that people who are willing to host others are genuine,” says Sankar K. Sanyal, chairman, Servas India.

Couchsurfing, the experts stress, is not just limited to young backpackers. “I have hosted people in their forties and fifties. And since they were of my age, I could relate to them a lot better,” says Rudradeb Chaudhuri, a Calcutta High Court advocate.

Chaudhuri, who became a member of CS around three years ago, says he has hosted so many foreigners that he has lost count of them. In fact, the CS has appointed him its “ambassador” for Calcutta.

Nor are couchsurfers new-age hippies. “My friends have played host to scientists, professors and software professionals from different parts of the world,” says Kothary. When the members sign in, they are also clearly informed that it is not a dating site.

Safety is a concern, but couchsurfers say that travellers should take precautions. “Sites like CS have excellent checks and balances in place. One has to ensure that the person who is willing to host you is trustworthy. One can check the person’s profile thoroughly, the references and also the people who have vouched for him or her,” says Chaudhuri.

Biplob Dutta, a Pune techie, trusts his visitors so much that he leaves his home keys with them when he has to leave town. “It’s a lovely experience meeting absolutely wonderful people. It has changed my life,” he says.

But hosts in India could be breaking the law of the land, although unknowingly. According to B.K. Talukdar of the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), Calcutta, under the Registration of Foreigner’s Act 1939, the host has to inform the local FRRO about the stay of a foreign guest. “No matter how confident you are about your guests, you can never be sure of their antecedents. It is important that you inform us about their stay,” says Talukdar.

The host can obtain a form for free from FRRO, Calcutta, or from the local district superintendent of police, fill it up and submit it. “It is as simple as that,” says Talukdar.

Although serious couchsurfers frown upon the idea of these networks being seen as havens for budget travellers, it’s an important factor for many. “For a good part of couchsurfers, the financial benefit is indeed a deciding factor. It allows young people to travel the world for much longer on a shoestring budget than they would through tourist accommodation,” says Thomas Goorden from Antwerp, Belgium, who has couchsurfed in many parts of the world and also acted as a host.

Others have a different take on this. “The prerequisite should be a passion for travel and meeting new people. The financial aspect should be secondary,” says Rudraneel Sen, a researcher from the University of Tennessee in the US, and an avid couchsurfer.

“It is a good way to save money. But in my opinion, you don’t just save money, you actually get much more than by staying in a tourist hotel,” emphasises Axel Rahmlow from Germany, who has couchsurfed in India among other countries. Rahmlow says that without his couchsurfing mates, he wouldn’t have been able to celebrate his 25th birthday by watching a match featuring the Knightriders at Eden Gardens.

Although CS claims that an incredible 99.794 per cent of its members have been happy with their experiences, not everything is rosy. Hosts in India recount stories of guests running steep telephone bills and getting into drunken brawls — but such incidents, they hasten to add, are few and far between. “There are exceptions everywhere,” says Dutta. Dutta himself has no doubts about the concept of couchsurfing. “It inspires me to think like a global citizen,” he says.

Imaging: M Iqbal Shaikh