Shishta Maurya - I Started Travelling Alone Since 2016, It's Very Empowering When You Travelling Alone, You Learn Many Things, You Meet So Many People & Learn A Lot From Them (Travel Blogger, India)

 

I have started Instagram very late because I was more into blogging. I have started the page in 2016. 

1. Tell us about your upbringing & journey.

I am born in a middle-class family but with not so small dreams. I always wanted to travel the world and do something different from what my father was into. He was working with a very reputed bank in a very reputed position and he also wanted me to be a banker. 

But I always had a creative mind and love to do DIYs, use to click with my very basic camera, and do something or the other with my household items. When I was experimenting with my camera doing self-portraits, I thought why not I should start writing as I was very much influenced by all the foreign influencers and use to watch their youtube videos and read blogs for hours. 

On one hand, I was so confident with what I was clicking but o the other hand I was so shy when it comes to facing the camera if someone else is clicking me. 

So I thought why not I should turn this self-portrait thing into blogging and click myself and put it in words. And that's how my blogging journey started in 2012. But yes still it's a long way to go and a long way to get recognized worldwide.

2. When did you start traveling and how did you decide to start your Instagram page? 

I have started travelling alone since 2016 and I must tell you all that it's very empowering when you travel alone. You learn so many things, meet so many people and learn a lot from them. But yes once should always keep safety in mind.

I have started Instagram very late because I was more into blogging. I have started the page in 2016. 

3. What are the best road trips have you taken across the country?

I have not much travelled via road but yes there are few trips which I cannot forget. One of them was from Jaipur to Jodhpur via Pushkar. I literally can not describe the beauty I have seen in those 7 hours of my journey. The second most beautiful place I have been to is always Andaman and Nicobar islands.

4. What do you think made your content popular?

I was very inactive on youtube and was creating only paid/sponsored content but when the first lockdown happened I thought why not do something with self-portraits and I made a video on how to click your self-portraits and that video magically became the most viewed video in my entire work, currently it crossed 2.2M views on youtube. 

If I talk about Instagram, I am still trying to figure out how the algorithm works here (HAHAHAHA). But yes all of my travel videos and stories are something that attracts the audience a lot.

5. Which is your favourite travel destination in India and the world?

Hands down to Rajasthan and Andamans in India as I have still not visited Kashmir though I am living in Jammu currently. And if I talk about the world then Bali, Marakkech and Cappadocia, Seoul and trust me list is so long.

6. Are you someone who likes to take control of the wheel or stay back whilst enjoying the scenic vistas? 

Ah' sadly or say thankfully I don't know how to drive and I totally love the fact that I get to enjoy the view and click beautiful pictures and create content.

7 . What is your opinion of body image created by the media and how hard is it to put up with it?

There are many creators who are trying to bring body positivity to the market and stop the shaming and teaching everyone that your body is a blessing don't judge yourself even if you do not fit the perimeter which is awesome. 

But sadly there are many brands who still prefer lean, model looking and fair coloured influencers to promote their products which totally breaks my heart. Because this is something which I have faced a lot as I do not have a model-like figure or anything.

And also there are people who believe that every influencer has the perfect skin, perfect figure, and the oh-so-luxe life and if we choose to show the real self they start judging us and comparing us and they forget that we are also humans and we all have flaws which in return comes down to negative comments and DM's. 

8. How important is social media validation in your profession? 

For me personally, I really have no issues if a person is liking my posts or not, but when it comes professionally I genuinely feel the number of likes, views, comments, and followers does help us to get business. The more the reach is, the more work we will get and the confidence we get after knowing that people love what we are creating because its only them for whom we are working so hard.

- Shishta Maurya

- Instagram: Shishta Maurya 

- Facebook: Shishta Maurya 

- YouTube: Shishta Maurya

- Interviewed By Kusum Jha