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Whenever we visited any city, we would go on walking tours with local folks. This enabled us to experience the cities in a way we would never have been able to on our own. The local guides gave us context to what we were experiencing and enhanced our understanding of the place, the people and the culture.
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Back home in Hyderabad, I realised we had a ton of places to explore, stories to share and food and culture to experience, but there was literally not a single walking tour on the lines of the ones we experienced in any other world city. This is what prompted me to start The Hyderabad Walking Company (THWC). The goal was simple – I would share my city and what it had to offer with visitors from around the world, just as I had experienced other cities around the world.
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Hyderabad is not your typical tourist city. In fact, it is not even on the tourist map of India. What we got instead were scores of business visitors from Europe and the Americas. Many of them looking for a way to explore the city found me, and very soon my experiences were among the highest rated in Hyderabad. The pandemic forced a two-year closure to activities. Now, with work returning to normal and business travel resuming, things are beginning to look up again, even if at a fraction of the rate it was before.
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Interestingly, sharing my city with visitors has made me connect with it in deeper, more meaningful ways. I contribute directly to local small businesses and entrepreneurs, engaging their services at or above market rates. I engage in deeper conversations with those invested and interested in the history and heritage of Hyderabad. I learn something new every single day about my city and its incredibly complex history.
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Because we are not on the tourist map, there is a serious dearth of any kind of souvenirs from Hyderabad. The ones that are available are poorly made and usually sourced from China. This prompted me to design and make my own souvenir postcards and stickers.
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The most rewarding part of the work I do is when I’m able to take someone born and brought up in Hyderabad on one of my experiences and they go, “I’ve never experienced Hyderabad like this before!” The next time you’re in Hyderabad, let me know – I will show you my city like you have never seen it before!
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A reminder: To ensure you don't miss any of our newsletters, move this email to your inbox. We always send all our newsletters from happystuff@sigamany.in – add it to your contacts so that you always get it in your inbox.
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Here's a Photo
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...instead of a thousand words
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Interesting Stuff
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Fun things we'd turn around and share with you if we were in the same room as you
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Navin: Way back in 2008 when I was visiting California, a bunch of my Chinese American friends took me to a restaurant to eat stinky tofu. It was alright – the smell did not put me off and the taste did not impress me enough to try it again. In fact, the more memorable dish that day for me was pig’s ear. Every culture seems to have a stinky food (karuvadu anyone?) everyone loves to hate. Here’s a fun account of some Japanese folks trying to eat some Swedish surströmming – purportedly the stinkiest food in the world!
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Both of us enjoy a variety of music, and one of our favourites from a long time ago is Prem Joshua. It’s a kind of fusion music that features a lot of Indian instruments and voices, and it has been on our joint listening lists for a long time. Give it a listen and see what you think.
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If you have enjoyed Suppress and Oppress and Depress, you know who Krish Ashok is. In his latest avatar, he applies science to Indian cooking in a fun and accessible manner.
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Fun Poll!
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What's a newsletter without a survey!
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Exercising has some interesting results - 58% say it makes them happy and 42% say they don’t exercise. Does this mean all those who exercise derive happiness from it? Does it also mean those who don’t are losing out on a surefire way of being happy? Your guess is as good as ours!
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This time we’re boldly going to see where everyone wants to go – on holiday! Do you prefer the beach or the mountains?
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Nostalgia Kick
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This ad from 1985 is for a product revolution that came for all of us. While lollipops were not cool, Cadbury’s Eclairs definitely were. When they made an Eclair lollipop, we lost our collective minds! The Cadbury Pop was launched with a massive media blitz on TV and print – it was everywhere and impossible to miss. This one was definitely a winner in the pester-power department.
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Navin's Atrocious Translations
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Tamil movie song lyrics translated for comic effect
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This issue’s translation is a fun song, though it might not appear so in English! Here it is:
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If I speak one truth
Will you love
Heart full of
Love
Body full of
Lust
If I speak the truth
Will you love me
A little less love
A little more lust
On the bed
Will you forgive me
If I tell the truth
Will you love me
On the bed
Will you forgive me
I am infatuated with women
I went mad only for you
When you throw kissy-looks at me
Lightning strikes my spinal cord
You are a rain-cloud for me
My hormone river is in spate
Come, why should we feel sad anymore
Who can ask when we are living for ourselves
When love caresses me
When your lust steals me
My mind is all Margazhi
My dreams are all Karthigai
My sky is within my grasp
My earth is not in my grasp
I don’t know what is wrong with you
If I knew, the sun is dirty
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Recycled Happiness!
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A fun post from one of our blogs
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The Beefeaters have the responsibility of keeping the ravens in the Tower of London – or the kingdom will crumble to dust! Read all about the ravens and their keepers.
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That's it for this issue, folks! Feel free to write to us at happystuff@sigamany.in or just fill out the form here with your thoughts, ideas and good wishes :)
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See you in the next issue!
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Disclaimer: We have no affiliation, commercial or otherwise, with any products and services we mention in the newsletter.
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