It is no secret The Roastery Coffee House has a full house, weekday or weekend, but on the evening of February 7, trip leader Neeraj Narayanan (aka Cap’n Nero) had the café feeling more cosy than usual, thanks to his storytelling event.
The café, while brimming with the aromas of freshly-ground coffee and the just-sliced flatbreads, was also filled with laughter and the occasional aww’s. Around 40 people showed up, many of whom are Neeraj’s Instagram followers who finally would have gotten to meet him in person. Anyone would be able to spot Neeraj in a crowd, given there is a captain’s hat on his, whatever the hour or occasion. You know what they say about a man in a uniform — kind of.
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To bring Neeraj to Hyderabad, it was a no-brainer for Prashant Sinha, manager at The Roastery Coffee House. “Neeraj has a really good following [of more than 1 lakh on Facebook] not just because of his content but also because of his own story. Before he became known for his travel endeavours, Neeraj was working a normal 9-to-5 but eventually in 2013, he quit his job to follow his true passion of travel. But he was practical; rather than going to Spain right away, he planned a four-day trip to Goa which changed everything. This is why I wanted him to come to The Roastery.”
Prashant says the fact that Neeraj, who has been to 45 countries so far, is also ‘a two-time TEDx speaker, one-time Spanish bull racer, and a forever random street dancer’ helped with the appeal too. When he returned home, he went up the Himalayas in Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan, falling in love with the mountains. That said, he now plans to climb up as many as possible, in the coming few years.
“A trip is decent if everyone had a good time and went back happy. But it is successful only if it makes at least three or four of them tear up during farewell or reschedule their tickets to spend more time together”, Neeraj says.
In 2014, Neeraj started On His Own Trip, a brand which takes small groups of people on trips to various destinations in India, southeast Asia and Europe. For the next couple of months, Neeraj has trips to Coonoor, Thailand, Andamans, Bhutan, Rishikesh, Vietnam and Lakshadweep. Ahead of Valentine’s Day, let us just say his trips are known to appeal to people seeking out “people finding sachha love and sachha lust.”
