Anirudh started his own travel company with the aim to promote responsible and sustainable tourism in Rajasthan and since then he has been doing so with his bespoke tour and travel plans across Rajasthan.

Anirudh Shukla is the founder of Active Internationals and Vedic Walks - his travel companies based in Jaipur.

Anirudh was born and raised in Jaipur and that’s where he received his formal education too. Later he moved to Delhi and worked there for a couple of years and then he moved back to Jaipur.

Talking about his childhood, Anirudh says that he grew up in the old city of Jaipur where he would be close to the local artisans and would also get to experience the local handicrafts firsthand. He would also hear stories about how Jaipur was built, bringing him closer to the city's culture and its people. It also inspired him to do something for local artisans and promote them.

Anirudh shares that he started working at the age of nineteen to add different skills to his repertoire. He worked for a company for about a year and a half and then he decided to do something in travel and tourism as his family was in the same line and he always wanted to do something in the sector. He left his well-paying corporate job and joined a travel company instead for a lower salary and his decision wasn’t much welcomed by his family. After working for the travel company for about a year, he then did an MBA from Amity University.

During his MBA, Anirudh did not sit for the campus placements as he wanted to work in the tourism sector only and none of the companies that came to his college offered a job of his choice. After his MBA, he worked at the Delhi office of a Switzerland-based travel company for a couple of years, and then he worked for another company in Delhi itself before finally moving back to Jaipur.

Anirudh says that he never really thought that he would be starting his own business one day. But as it happened he took to it.

Talking about COVID, Anirudh says that the tourism and hospitality industry was hit the most by the pandemic. He mostly works in the inbound tourism industry and still had to face a lot of challenges even when things started getting back on track as there were a lot of travel and visa restrictions still in place in light of the pandemic.

Talking about his mistakes, Anirudh says that he learned to speak French for about two years. But he always worked in the English market and thus he could never get exposure to hone his French communications skills which was a mistake he committed. He advises youngsters that whatever skills they learn they should put them to use to continually improve them otherwise they will be of no use.

To aspiring entrepreneurs, Anirudh advises them to work for bigger organizations for a few years before venturing out on their own as it will teach them discipline and also how to manage their time well. Besides, to people who want to do something of their own in the tourism sector, he tells them that contrary to what it seems, the tourism industry is not that lucrative and it’s also very tough to make money working in this industry. However, he says that if they are interested in learning about different places and want to do something creative then the industry is really ripe.

Talking about his inspirations, Anirudh says that his family is the one that supports him the most. His father always helped him when he started out his business.

In his spare time, Anirudh likes to play with his pet as it helps him relieve his stress and get back to his work afresh.

Anirudh shares a couple of pieces of his learning: 1. No news is better than bad news. 2. Something is better than nothing. Besides, he advises people not to run behind money as money can’t guarantee a happy and healthy life.