LESS IS MORE, MORE IS BETTER It takes time and effort to design a tour. And much of this time goes into deciding what not to talk about. Any basic research will throw up volumes of material on any given subject under the sun. The challenge is to pick only those threads that are most relevant, and weave them into stories that have the potential to hold the attention of the audience. Leave out everything else. And that is easier said than done. We’ve all been on tours where a visit to any historical site is accompanied by a barrage of dates and names of kings and dynasties. That’s one way to present information. But when you choose to tell a story, you ignore some of these details and instead, build on other finer details that otherwise typically get left out; not dates or names, but elements that help you frame your story. Some of these elements may have no earth-shattering historical connotations, and they almost always end up making the talk much longer. But they could help you hold the attention of your audience. Conducting a tour is less about sharing information and more about engaging your audience.
IS THE PLACE ‘CULTURALLY RICH’ A natural expectation, if you are designing tours that talk about vague things like the ‘local way of life’. It doesn’t matter, really. Every place has a story to tell, and how you tell it makes all the difference between a great tour and a mediocre one. As we often tell people (only half-jokingly), we could create an enjoyable trail on any given stretch of a road - if there was a market for it.
KEEPING IT SUSTAINABLE Our trails revolve around ordinary every sights that don’t need special permissions or arrangements. But even so, we go all out to ensure that nothing is left to chance. Everyone in the value chain for a trail is a
stakeholder and has to see some benefit. Else it would never be a sustainable operation. The tourism industry especially needs to have an eye out for sustainability. Tours like the ones we do have a responsibility to the environment we operate in. Most of our walks are usually limited to small groups. That is by choice. If we choose to take a bus load of people on some of our tours, we end up changing the environment we operate in, turning it into another make believe, sanitised tour destination. So what does the traveller get out of it all? An experience that takes him up close and personal with the city, an understanding of why the city is just so and an appreciation of what makes the city just so. He hears stories that help him relate to the city, for we like to make our trails humorous, unpretentious takes on every day life in the city. At the end of it all, a trail is not about standing outside and peering in, it is about being in and enjoying the city. We’ve been in this line for a few years now, and going forward, we hope to replicate our tours in many other cities, starting with Pondicherry this month. So if you are a person who shares a passion for this line of work, drop us a line, and who knows, your next visiting card could read ‘storyteller’! Storytrails is an organisation that designs and conducts story-based walks and short tours. The trails take you through the very beat and pulse of the city; from its oldest parts to its busy bazaars, through dance and art to its rural heart. Currently offered in Chennai and Madurai, these award-winning walking tours are an easy introduction to the city and an enjoyable way to experience the local way of life. Popular trails include the Peacock trail the Bazaar trail, the Spice trail and the British Blueprints trail. You can read traveller reviews of the trails at www. tripadvisor.in/storytrails. Storytrails has been a regular recipient of the Tripadvisor certificate of excellence and these trails have been consistently ‘Top-rated’ on Viator.
About the Author Vijay Prabhat Kamalakara is the founder and Managing Director of Storytrails. An MBA from IIM Indore, Vijay has worked in the banking and IT industries. He was awarded the ‘Young creative entrepreneur award’ by the British Council and the Youth Achiever Award for innovative entrepreneurship by Yuva Shakti. He is a regular guest speaker at forums like TED, and Ignite and at many educational institutions. Vijay is a fanatic marathon runner, and enjoys singing and strumming on his guitar in his free time.
June 2016 | CITY OBSERVER
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