Visiting a new city and want to know what street food it has to offer? Or are you on the lookout for inspiring stories of people who made it big in their own small way? Enter the world of vloggers — people who share the stories of ordinary people.
When blogging was the ‘in’ thing to do on the Internet, there were many who went with the flow. The contents varied from everyday commute stories to childhood memories. Now, people turn to vlogs which are ‘blogging with videos’. Instead of words, videos are used to tell the story.
Perhaps the most popular vlogger is known best by his signature line — Vah re vah . And that’s how Chef Sanjay Thumma came to be popularly known as vah re vah chef. All of Sanjay’s posts till date get no less than 2.4 million hits and are the most watched links by those who love to experiment in the kitchen and people who are left to cook for themselves.
Sanjay is also a pioneer with his recipe vlogs when he started in 2007 after his successful restaurant business in America. “After I sold my properties, my regular diners and friends kept asking me about my recipes. The first recipe which I posted was that of sambar. Soon, the requests doubled and I began enjoying vlogging,” recalls Sanjay. Sanjay’s intention was to inspire people to cook fresh home-made food. Did he reach his goal? “I think so. Because the hits went up and YouTube suggested that I become their content partner,” smiles Sanjay.
Besides posting recipe vlogs, Sanjay is busy with cookery shows on regional TV channels.
Then there’s Mohit Balachandran who manages his group and website — Chowder Singh. His page is all about depicting local culture-and-travel details. Between photo blogs and imparting general gyaan on food, ingredients, process and restaurants, he also maintains a small unique video section.
Mohit shoots videos while the dishes are being made and doesn’t leave any room for doubt about the method or the ingredients.
Hyderabad street photography page owner Sanjay Borra recently experienced what happens when a post goes viral. Sanjay says he is an inquisitive customer.
“Every time I visit a restaurant or an eating joint, it leaves me curious about who these people are, where they come from, what made them start this venture. This prompted me to tell stories about these people, rather than focusing on what’s trending on the plate; I wanted to document their journey. My videos are short clips, less than one to two minutes. ”
