Meet Shristi Shukla

We were lucky to catch up with Shristi Shukla recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Shristi , appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

I feel that resilience, knowingly and unknowingly has always been a part of my personality. I have never been a conformist, I have never settled for truths that society throws at you right from your childhood. The more I knew people outside my home, the more I realised that I am a part of something bigger. In my friend circle, I have mostly been around artists, entrepreneurs, and I believe these are the people who carry the true resilience, I have been most comfortable around this group, as I always believe change is necessary, at least it helps you learning something new.

I changed cities, I changed careers, but I was always happier while moving. So currently choosing a career based on travelling doesn’t surprise many.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

It all starts from seven years back, when I was constantly changing my job profiles and never fitting into one.
Bored from an IT job, I got a new job offer, to manage a backpacker hostel in Jaipur. I said yes because I had nothing better to do during that time. That was my first introduction to the hospitality industry. On the initial stage at the hostel, the founder noticed a talent in me, he said “you know, you’re good at talking, maybe you should try something more.” I was rolling my eyes at that moment, not knowing how is “too much talking” is a good thing.

So I was offered the guest relations profile, honestly, I loved it. I loved welcoming them, talking to them, helping them with little things, soon making itineraries for them, it was all fun. The good thing about working in a backpacker hostel was that you were having those people who are of same age, doing things that are new and exciting, constantly looking for new adventures. It felt really comfortable in that environment.

Soon, we realised maybe we can go more further in it and start doing local walking tours, The idea was quiet new at that time, hiring tour guides have always been a thing in city like Jaipur but someone taking guests around the city for giving them local sense of life, it was a new idea, and I didn’t had much confidence initially because I am not from Jaipur, I was an outsider to the city, not knowing it in depth.

When the walking tours started, I was also getting to know about Jaipur while walking along with my guests. Soon, I found my groove, I found my places where I can take guests and give them a great storytelling experience. And it became my thing. I was the one who started “Hidden-Gem Tour of Jaipur”, soon after my idea got circulated to the other hostels, and they started doing the same. Not that I complain, no one did better than us anyway.

With years to come I left my job at that Backpacker hostel, because “resilience”…phew! (Just Kidding)

And after taking a long break from hospitality industry I thought of starting something of my own. Something more grounded, spiritual, feminine, truthful and unfiltered. I and my husband (then boyfriend) listed an experience on AirBnb in the start of 2023, in the initial 5-6 months, there were hardly any bookings, but we did made many friends during that time, but soon after when the tourists season came(which is mostly from Oct-Feb in Jaipur) we suddenly started getting a lot of attention on AirBnb and in fact outside of the AirBnb as well.

The thing about these walks is that it is very personal. Its almost like a part of me. Of what I think of the city, what I think of my country, what thoughts I have on spirituality and feminism. The walk’s more important part is telling my guests about the city through a female perspective as well. It can be controversial at times but I am glad that the guests who chose my tour are very receptive and positive about it.

Currently my company’s name is “Sair With Shristi”. “Sair” is a Hindi word, meaning “to explore” or “outing” and my name “Shristi” means “Universe”.

My motto is not just to create experience in a single city, rather I want to expand to even outside of India. I have started expanding my tours to the other cities of Rajasthan, in coming months there will be more cities, we are also currently working on our own website.

I am currently keeping my work very simple and low profile. I am the only one who is managing all my tours currently and I am not even tired.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Honestly I am also figuring out what are my three most important skills or qualities.

As I mentioned earlier, my ex-boss told me that I am good at speaking, I did not know that it can be counted as a talent. But it worked for me somehow as I channelised my speaking skills into the work I do.

But not everyone is good at speaking. In fact most of the people I know are shy in public.

The core is to be Honest, Real and Grounded in what you do.

If you ask three important skills, this will be the ones I would consider the most.

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?

I have been overwhelmed quiet often. Both from the inside and the outside.

The outside is mostly based on what’s happening in our society. In the name of development we ponder our natural resources and most of the Indian population not civilised enough to keep our streets, monuments, etc clean. For our conveniences we cut down our trees and buy plastic water bottles and then not re-use it. I am very sensitive when it comes to things that are related with our nature.

From the inside, I get overwhelmed when it comes to how society works on spiritual level. You will see lots of anger, anguish, generational traumas, depression to anyone you would talk to these days. The unawareness is what brings pain, and I have been in pain for a long time.

They way I have realised how we can heal ourselves is through learning and acquiring more knowledge in what interests you. I would not say it would work for anyone, but it has worked for me to some extent. The more I have looked towards the books, I have found peace in knowing more about human nature and nature in general. I have found the rights and wrongs in myself. And once you find the awareness within yourself, the things the overwhelms you from the outside and the inside, you cop up with them with more ease and tenderness rather than falling in the trap of sadness.

Find your own space, go out alone for a walk and don’t hesitate in having a cheese cake even when you are dieting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.airbnb.co.in/experiences/4334048
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ms_weirdly_weird
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shristi-shukla/