The Gully Tribe
VINAY PARAMESWARAPPA
Founder and CEO
Scuba Diver | Leadership Coach | Avid Trekker
Vinay loves being outdoors. Although he was born and raised in India, he has spent a good chunk of his life abroad in Singapore and the UK. He loves reading non fiction books and enjoys documentaries. He also works with founders and C-level executives as a leadership coach.
His interest in travel, trivia, and people led him to start Gully Tours, and bring more people together who share similar interests. He is always out and about curating new walks through reccees, digging deeper into stories of buildings, people, and food, and getting more people excited about history.
He finds it hard to choose between the mountain and the sea because he loves exploring both. He is always game to try out new activities to do and new dishes, but his guilty pleasure is buying more books than he can read and convincing people why Biryani is the best food invention of the world.
Favourite Tour: The Colonial Crawl
AAFREEN FATHIMA
Tour Lead
Mechanical Engineer | Cloud Kitchen Owner | Wildlife Enthusiast
Aafreen loves Chinese and Italian cuisines and started as a home baker at 16. Her day is designed around food. It goes like this: Wake up - get dressed - go to college - Think about lunch - have some yummy food - attend class - Think about dinner - come home - order food - play with her cats - have dinner - Sleep.
Her interest in learning about food backstories led her to excavate stories from India’s glorious past and sign up as a tour guide. Aafreen also picked up the violin and vocals recently, and is enjoying playing and humming tunes on the strings. She believes one life is too short and hence tries to soak it all in as a multipotentialite.
She loves exploring different cultures and loves making friends with people from different walks of life. She personally feels at home in Mysore because there is so much to discover at every corner, whether it’s food, architecture, or history.
Favourite Tour: Best of Mysore Tour
AISHWARYA KIRIT
Tour Lead
Museologist | Hoovu Gatherer | Archivist
Aishwarya is the happiest researching and writing about history and culture. She is currently working on the archives of the Star of Mysore, Mysuru, through an India Foundation for the Arts grant and has previously worked for Eka Archiving Services, and DAG in New Delhi.
She lives and breathes the Studio Ghibli life — She wakes up to coffee, sips it in the sun while her cat strolls around in the garden, and finishes it while reading poetry on quests and conquests.
A day at work for her involves a lot of dusty spaces, some ridiculous memory games, and a whole bunch of rabbit holes. An ex journalist, RJ, and a translator, she has now found her place amongst the antiquated statues.
Her personal mission is to convince people that cats make amazing companions - it's a matter of loving another being for who they are. She will find the brightest flowering tree whenever you are with her and promises to tell you a history trivia behind it.
When she is not leading tours, you will find her drowned in layers of books or papers, like Begum Nur Jehan, with her cat monitoring her work.
Favourite Tour: The Colonial Crawl
ANJALI MELINA LOBO
Tour Lead
Student | Binge watching Specialist | Pani Puri Purist
Anjali loves being indoors but only makes an exception when she has to lead tours. Her idea of chilling is calling her friends home and cooking a special lunch for them.
A computer science student and a heritage lover, Anjali swears by her cuteness and pani puri love and knows just the right spots in the city to relish some amazing street fare. She was born and raised in Mysore and assures you that you will fall in love with the city like she did for its calm temperament and way of life.
Anjali believes that all kids need the right kind of love and care and volunteers at an NGO to put this belief into practice and is a cause she is passionate about.
Outside of tour leading, you will probably find her watching the latest Netflix series and enjoying a snooze.
Favourite Tour: Best of Mysore Tour
ANJU MARINA LOBO
Tour Lead
Sunset Catcher | Techie | Home Gardener
Anju’s zen place is the kitchen. She loves experimenting as a chef and dishing out fusion foods while gulping down endless cups of coffee. When she is not doom scrolling on the phone or watching Michael Scott say that’s what she said, she does number crunching on Excel.
As a resource coordinator for a tech company, her day job involves a lot of numbers.
But that didn’t stop the heritage lover in her from pursuing walks. Her family moved to Mysore when she was a kid and has called it home ever since. Anju believes that Chamundi betta in Mysore is the perfect spot for quality conversation, delicious food, peaceful nature-watching, people-watching or simply enjoying the company of each other in silence.
She promises to make you fall in love with Masala Dosa and Mysore when you join her on a tour.
Favourite Tour: Best of Mysore Tour
MRADULA HEGDE
Tour Lead
Copy Writer | Pop Culture Buff | Chai Lover
Mradula is a self-proclaimed Bollywood junkie. When not sipping cups of chai or consuming pop culture on the phone, she loves to travel and spend her time outdoors. A Bombay girl in Bengaluru, she loves to meet new people, try local street food, and learn more about spaces and cultures.
A copywriter by profession and a biotech graduate by degree, her love for stories and spaces brought her to Gully tours. She aspires to build a forest one day and gets excited about trivia of any kind. She wants to read more books but somehow ends up watching more movies, TV series, and Instagram reels on her watch.
She collects postcards, fridge magnets, and keychains and is a hoarder of notebooks, boxes, and oxide jewellery. She daydreams a lot about writing and hopes to write a book someday. She encourages everyone to try solo travel and her latest obsession is uncovering stories behind Indian prints and textiles.
Mradula welcomes you to teach her a few key phrases in your mother tongue on walks with her, and in return she will tell you the best vada pav and chai joints in the city.
Favourite Tour: The Colonial Crawl
ORIT SHULMAN
Tour Lead
History Buff | Travel Lover | Art Enthusiast
Orit hails from Israel and is keen about exploring local heritage and history. Currently, her work day in Israel is split between being a tour guide and being a volunteer with a local NGO.
Now that she is in India for a while, she is doing Yoga, exploring the city or travelling across the country. She also volunteers at VP events and activities at an international women’s club of Bangalore, loves meeting friends, and attending cultural events. You will rarely find her resting because she loves being the busy bee.
She holds an MA in organisational consulting from the Bar Ilan University in Israel. She is also a Government licensed tour guide there. Her favourite book is the Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan Philipe Sendker, which explains her love for discovering the stories behind the scenes and loves making these stories accessible to her travellers.
Before coming to India, Orit served as VP of a leading educational NGO in Israel. She is also a freelance consultant and coaches NGOs on fundraising and resource development. She enjoys meeting new people and sharing her love for travelling with them.
Favourite Tour: Malleswaram Street Art Walk
PARVATHI BHAT
Tour Lead
Entrepreneur | Masala Puri Purist | Fitness Junkie
In another life, she would surely have been Amrita Sher-Gil, given her love for art, poetry, and paintings. But in this life, Parvathi is an entrepreneur from Bangalore, who also loves leading tours and art walks for people, especially children.
A woman of many passions, she is currently exploring and hacking the food and fitness space. Her latest obsession is indoor bouldering and surf skating. She loves to read, is obsessed with bookshelves, and prefers to arrange her collection by colour of book spines over genre.
Born and raised in Bangalore, she promises to share secret spots within the bends of Nandi Hills like a true local if you become her friend. She also has a degree in Biotechnology, Financial Management, and fine arts.
She has led museum tours in Canada and packs international trivia and local mysteries of the city in her walks at Gully Tours. In short, she is the perfect blend of an outdoorsy person who can be caught devouring books indoors.
Favourite Tour: Death by Dosa
POONACHA CARIAPPA
Tour Lead
Serial Cyclist | History Buff | Bibliophile Max
Poonacha calls himself a freelancer – someone who is free most of the time. But when he is busy, you will find him doing bicycle tours, participating in extreme sports, and helping brands and people as a travel and tourism consultant.
He has participated in triathlons, cycled across terrains in India from Leh to Goa, and finds himself amidst nature more than urban spaces. He is an avid reader and hopes to build a library someday.
C. Rajagopalachari is his favourite character from history and city of joy is his favourite movie. He will break into a song and jig at the drop of a hat but only if it's impromptu. If you put him in a spot, he will get tongue tied so leave it best to spontaneity . He has a lot of stories to tell on his walks. All you have to do is ask.
He loves his chill life in Mysore, cycling around, reading books, and taking his friends around in his plantations in Coorg.
Favourite Tour: The Best of Mysore
PRATHYUSH MANDAR
Tour Lead
CSR Guy | Book Lover | Coffee Connoisseur
When we asked Prathyush to describe himself, he wrote this – charming, optimistic, and a problem solving dog-person. If you meet Prathyush at his day job, he is a corporate relations manager, creating meaningful partnerships between our non-profit and the corporate world at the U&I trust.
In his own words, I start my day with a fruitful bowl of muesli and then a cup of coffee to wash it down before I sit to work with a passionate group of changemakers across the country.
Prathyush loves books, ocean, and people — not necessarily in that order. Of all the places he has travelled, he felt at home in Bangalore and it carries a special place in his heart. He loves narrating stories about urban spaces and growing mushrooms. If you become friends with him, he will treat you to a plate of biryani and mutton chops at Rahham’s.
With Gully Tours, he claims to have discovered unheard stories, visited unseen places, and made friends with strangers in under 3 hours. He urges you to join the trails so you can see the city in a new light together.
Favourite Tour: Death by Dosa
RAKSHA SHENOY
Tour Lead
Pet Mom | Entrepreneur | Local Cuisine Lover
The Jill of all trades, offbeat is Raksha’s middle name. After an illustrious career in HR, facilitation, and corporate training, she founded a healthy-food startup, Nummy Foods, with a bunch of feisty, rural women from Karnataka.
A die-hard Shahrukh fan, she can watch his movie, Swades, on repeat and loves lazing around with her doggos in Cubbon Park. This pet mom also plays the veena and loves hosting her friends for a cocktail party. We asked her about her passions and in her typical offbeat way she said — crazy pet mom videos, cute animals, and courageous women in no particular order.
Architecture, nature, and local cuisines have always fascinated her, and she heads out in the search of interesting places every now and then. Having travelled the touristy way, she now enjoys walking and leading tours to explore new places. She believes that the lesser-known stories, fresh fragrances, and meeting a diverse set of people add so much meaning to life.
Join her on walks to learn about local folk art, regional souvenirs, and secret vegetarian delicacies.
Favourite Tour: Malleswaram Street Art Walk
SIYA THATTIL
Tour Lead
Audiologist | Animal Lover | Star Gazer
The origins of Siya’s name lie in Sanskrit. It means Sita or the daughter of earth. She is a proud Mysorean who spends her day as a language pathologist and an audiologist.
Siya is a hustler in the truest sense. If you think you have 24 hours in a day, she will show you how to do more from each hour. Her day starts with a huge cup of coffee, which she sips while spending some time tending to her garden and trying to make her otherwise sleepy dog play fetch.
The rest of her day is reading and preparing for exams, playing guitar completely off tune, and finally winding down with a warm shower. Scrolling through Instagram or bingeing on tv series is a must because she has to keep up with the trends, and she brings all of this pop culture energy in her walks.
Though she loves Mysore to the core, Fort Kochi is one of her favourite places because she loves the charm of the old buildings and neighbourhood echoes of a bygone era. Siya believes that these structures are immortal because of the sheer things they have witnessed and will continue to, long after she is gone.
She comes from a long line of photographers and promises to capture stories in frames on tours with her. As someone who has spent her whole life in Mysore, she promises to take you through her city walks in a royal way.
Favourite Tour: The Palace Tour
YAMINI PRAKASH
Tour Lead
Yoga Teacher | Serial Traveller | Food Lover
Yamini asks a lot of questions, hence her friends nicknamed her Y (why). She believes life is a journey, not a destination. She is figuring out her way around the world through Yoga and travel and joined Gully Tours so she could meet new people and create new memories.
She is an early bird thanks to all the yoga training she conducts for students both online and offline. Sometimes she doubles up as their alarm clock too, waking them at wee hours so they can flex later.
We asked her to choose between Yoga and food and she told us she loves them both in equal amounts and lives up the slow life in her hometown Mysore, reading history books, practising asanas, and conducting walks.
Favourite Tour: Palace Tours
ZEBA MEHBOOB
Operations Manager
Roger Federer Fan | Animal Lover | Landscaping Enthusiast
Zeba is the backbone of tour operations at Gully. She brings tours, tour guides, and guests together in Mysore and Bangalore. Zeba is a big fan of breakfasts. She never skips one and believes a great, nutritious breakfast sets the tone for the rest of the day and she pairs it with a cup of chai.
She likes to unwind with walks and stargazing. She ends her day with a healthy dinner and some fantasy television series like Lord of the Rings or Rings of power. A cause that is really close to her heart is landscaping and caring for stray animals.
Zeba loves Mysore for a lot of reasons but the most important one is the ease of reaching anywhere within 15 mins. Join her for walks in Mysore and revisit the times of a bygone era
Favourite Tour: The Best of Mysore
What's in our Gully?
Just like our name, we head out in search of stories in the hidden narrow alleyways of places. We tag along with people who love to explore and uncover secretive and not-so secretive parts of Bangalore and Mysore.
And we have been doing this since 2009. Our gully escapades actually started in the lanes of Singapore. After spending his days as a techie in Singapore, our founder, Vinay was looking for things to do over the weekend. He signed up for a tour in the old quarter of Singapore. Slowly, he started travelling extensively across South-east Asia and exploring cities, towns, and villages on his travels..
He says, “Singapore as a city county receives more tourists than India. And if you look closer home, we have over 5000 years of history, culture, and communities. What we lack is the creativity in creating awareness and presenting it better. We have so much to offer in India, and I couldn’t wait to get back and bring Indian stories to the world. And that’s where I started Royal Mysore Walks in Mysore.
The early editions of tours were only in Mysore and were a big hit with locals and tourists alike. In 2016, we branched out to multiple cities across India, and thus Royal Mysore Walks became Gully Tours - a pan-Indian storyteller through trails.
If you haven’t guessed already, we love hosting people — locals, diplomats, celebrities, kids, students, grandparents — all are welcome at our Gully. In the last seven years, we have hosted over 30k+ travellers from 70+ nationalities and are looking forward to hosting more and creating more memories.
For us, it’s all about the joy of exploration. Trying food (old and new), meeting people who bring their own stories with them, and understanding the cosmic mix of culture and communities, which makes history enjoyable is what keeps us going at Gully.
While walks are our forte, we have also helped people find their life partners, trace their family roots, and make new friends on their travels with us. And this superpower of the community is what keeps us going. Even when the pandemic hit and we had to temporarily pause operations, our guests wrote to us to check how we were doing and that reaffirmed that our heart was in the right place.
At Gully tours, we are a mad bunch of writers, engineers, home bakers, ultra athletes, artists, and educators with shared love for culture, history, and heritage. From group to private tours, There are days you will find us walking down the streets exploring a city's nooks and corners. Then there are days we are getting into rabbit holes to pull out interesting content. And there are days we just bum!