There is no better way to know a city than to learn the stories behind its sights and sounds. Storytrails was born with the idea of sampling a city through its stories; of taking visitors to savour local sights and sounds through the eyes of a storyteller; of going beyond the sights themselves, and uncovering characters and customs that made these places come alive. They currently offer different trails in Chennai, Madurai and Puducherry. Storytrails has about 17 trails to offer across these three cities including walks around Old Madras, Mylapore, French quarters of Puducherry and a foodie trail of Madurai. They are looking to expand to Kochi and Bengaluru this year.

Food Trail

“So for instance, the bazaar trail takes you through one of the bustling marketplaces in the city, Georgetown. As you walk through these by-lanes, our stories will bring alive the history, mythology and folklore that intertwine to give you a glimpse of the city. In the spice trail you can join us on an exploratory journey through Indian cuisine. Walk into an Indian kitchen, and watch the magic play out. Similarly in the jewellery trail as you delve into the making of exquisite hand-crafted Indian jewellery, you discover the many myths and stories that lie in its crafting. The trails are guided by a motley group of professionals from diverse backgrounds,” says Vijay Prabhat Kamalakara, founder of Storytrails. The organisation deploys story-tellers who are trained to make the historical narrative as engaging as possible, using a conversational style and abundant humour.

Dancer’s Trail

“Our content and presentation tools are our key differentiators. Our time is split almost equally between research, scripting and design of trails and in training our storytellers,” explains Vijay. Apart from travellers and expats, Storytrails also works with hotels, schools and leading corporate and retail organisations in and around Chennai.

Spice Trail