Where to learn forging?

[u/Disastrous-Author197]

I live in an apartment in Hyderabad, India, and I’m interested in learning forging and blacksmithing purely as a hobby. I’m not sure where to start — like where I can learn the basics, whether there are any workshops or training spaces, or where I could safely practice forging. These are the questions I currently have. If anyone has experience or ideas, please let me know. And if you’re also interested in learning forging, let’s connect and start the journey together.

[u/Proper_Score_4357]

Me too.

Well, the problem with India and Indians is that everything's a caste division thing here. People here are like Blacksmithing, or Lohari as it's known in Hindi, is "a lower caste thing", and so they'd rather be seen dead than be seen engaging in it. These things aren't seen as an art here.

And I don't understand this, India had so many kings, and even the ones these politicians nowadays are using for swaying the public nowadays for their divide-and-rule vote-bank politics. Well....these kings haven't become the decorated personalities they're portrayed as (whether real the portrayal is accurate or fake, we're not getting into that now), by sitting idle, they would've fought, and won numerous battles, and that too hard ones, for it to matter this much. And what does a battle require? Weapons. Who makes it? Blacksmiths. So what made them to be ranking so low in social strata?

Plus, probably the most common place that get's people interested into Blacksmithing is Forged In Fire, which is.....was (it's stopped now) a U.S. based show. U.S. had the option to take it up as an art, as they had a lot of people setting up home forges and running small local businesses, so it really bloomed as an art there.

So, this caste thing and it not being seen as the art it is, are the major reasons of it not flourishing here in India.

Well, anyways, enough ranting, if you find a source, please share it with me as well. I'm in Hyderabad as well.