In 2009 Mumbai locals Kanika Parab and Mansi Poddar started popping into inboxes in their city. Their modus operandi was as simple as this: they were in the know, and they shared that info with their readers, telling them where to go, what to eat, what to buy, and how to maximise their time in the city.

They took their own experiences, collected on strolls along Bandra bylanes and New York blocks, and turned web-entrepreneurs. Enter: Brown Paper Bag, once an insider's guide to Mumbai, and today to Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, and New York.

We ran Kanika and Mansi through the Nico Q&A. Could you tell us a bit about the inception of Brown Paper Bag?
Kanika: Brown Paper Bag started out as a personal blog in early 2009. Mansi had just moved back from 10 years abroad, and missed New York terribly. I was looking for things to do in Mumbai, and couldn’t really find a fun source – it all mostly circled around the same four bars.
Mansi: Kanika had moved from being a features chief sub-editor at a newspaper to a web start-up, and missed covering the Mumbai lifestyle beat. So BPB was basically a way for us to kind of meet these two needs, a blog that would go beyond the regular stuff to find a secret city, one that we felt sure existed, but was yet uncovered.

A day without internet normally looks like?
A day on the beach.

If BPB the website were to say something, it’d say?
Gin or whisky?

In your spare time, you…
What spare time?New Delhi, Mumbai, New York and Bengaluru. Which city is next in your list of recommendations and why?
Marrakesh. It’s gorgeous.

Favourite spots to dine in?
The Table, Kofuku. Kala Ghoda Café.

What do you reckon would make for the best suggestions for an island (like Nicobar!)?
A rubber duckie and a big hat.

Your favourite piece of clothing from Nicobar?
Nico's red striped dress.

You will find Kanika & Mansi's take on Tulum here.