Many people have called Hyderabad home, like Shana Susan Ninan, who is originally from Kerala and has visited many other cities. She shares her passion and affinity with the Hyderabad city with The Pioneer this week.
Tejal Sinha
Today, as we look at the developments that Hyderabad has been through, one cannot ignore the fact that the hospitality sector has been growing. So why not have a much more accomplished interviewee from the hospitality industry onboard for our exclusive weekly segment of Hyderabond? Shana Susan Ninan is a hotel marketing professional. Her job in the field of marketing for several hotels takes her to various cities in India and that keeps her engaged—more reading and more people interaction.
With parents from Kerala and Coorg and having studied and worked across India, she has always loved to learn languages and making new friends wherever she goes.
She holds a great and old association with the ‘city of pearls’. Basically, for her, she’s got to live three different phases of her life in Hyderabad. And so, “This is Hyderabad 3.0 for me. I did my MA in Media from EFL University two decades ago and I loved the city then. I love the city now. After a couple of years as a journalist, I was back in Hyderabad as a language and soft skills trainer. And now, I am based in the city again, but on a different work trajectory.”
Marketing, she says, is a 24×7 job because you’re always glued on—from branding and PR to digital plans and partnerships. “Hyderabad has a lot to offer and it has a good mix of people from several countries and from across India. Perfect for networking,” she shares as she goes on to add, “Hyderabad is close to my heart as this is one city I’ve spent a lot of time dating, Terence, who is my husband now, and have made good friends during my college and previous work days. And as memories go, it brings joy. It is a growing city, economically, geographically and on other parameters. And, rightfully so, it is also one of the cities other than Delhi in the north to have a pub culture long before Bangalore became the pub capital of the country!”
Everyone who has migrated from different places has one inclination towards the city and that’s certainly the Hyderabadi food. Well, so is it with Susan, because every time she thinks of Hyderabad, she can only think of Haleem in the old city! Such lovely nostalgia for yum Lamb Haleem and not just during Ramadan but throughout the year.
Meanwhile, as we go ahead in this chat, she went on to share her fondest memory, and it was from her university days. “I love eggs in all forms. There used to be a small shack between EFL University and Osmania University back then that served bread, omelettes, and chai from midnight to early morning. As students, it was fun and affordable for us. Plus, it was a good walk with friends at midnight.”
“Hyderabad is now the second most expensive city in India,” she shares about the hospitality sector in Hyderabad. “It is also one of the top five spending cities as well. People’s ideas of celebration have changed. The celebration is no longer small. Everything is big and Instagrammable! Every event is exponentially celebrated. And it is not just about events; even small occasions are in focus, too. There are way too many restaurants, pubs and bars that have opened up in the last two years here. In fact, we even have a mini-Goa-like space right in the heart of the city. So people don’t need to leave the city to celebrate. You have everything here in Hyderabad itself.”
In the past 20 years that she has been in the city, she shares that it has grown and expanded even. “It has become more welcoming. I like the fact that it’s very metropolitan in nature. No one feels left out; you can find different communities residing here. So food, language and culture blend well.”
However, we are sure every Hyderabadi would relate to what she dislikes, and it’s none other than “how drivers and civilians (and authorities) don’t follow road and traffic rules here. That definitely needs some change.”
Well, on a concluding note, she shares that Hyderabad is like a mini-New York.
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