When Emily and Ramya got to India, they had known each other about as long as the plane ride. The two were acquaintances through classes at Rochester Institute of Technology, but had spent little time together before embarking on a two week trip through India with Ramya's family.

The pair spent their time split between Ramya's hometown of Bangalore, where they became visitor and host respectively, and cities that were new to both of them, including Chennai, Pondicherry, Mahabalipuram, and Goa. We spoke to Emily and Ramya about bridging cultural gaps, exploring together, and the role of having a host when traveling kindly. 

How did this trip come about? What made you want to visit India/take a guest home with you?

Ramya: I usually get pretty bored when I go home because there’s really nothing to do in my city, and all my friends currently in Indian colleges have a much shorter winter break than I do so I don’t get to see them for very long. As soon as Emily brought up the idea of coming to India I was totally sure it would be a fun holiday if she stayed with my family. I also knew that she genuinely wanted to experience the culture and would be respectful of it.

Emily: I didn’t have a specific reason to think of India out of any other location, other than the fact that I know that I want to spend as much of my life traveling as I can manage. I'm driven by the desire to see things, experience new cultures, and explore for both the newness of the visuals around me and the joy that I feel because of it.

What was your experience with travel before this trip?

E: My mother has an intense love for travel, and I am fortunate enough to be a part of a family where I grew up being exposed to travel. However, most of my traveling has been experienced as a family unit, which I believe is drastically different from what one experiences if traveling alone or without your family to take care of all the logistics. A big part of this trip was proving that I could travel on my own.

R: I traveled to India as a kid a few times while I was in the US, and then I’ve lived in two Indian cities. I’ve traveled quite a bit in India, and I’ve been to about four or five other countries. A lot of the places we went were new to me though, or I hadn't been there in a few years.

How did being shown someone else's home influence your experience of India?

E: Being shown someone else’s home is a particularly beautiful and somewhat intimate experience that I feel especially grateful for. To watch people open up their home to a stranger, as well as to share their culture is fascinating and altered my experience a lot more than if I had visited without someone to teach me or share with me the things that differed from my own home and culture.

Showing someone around your own home?

R: I’ve never done it before, and it was really fun. There were a lot of things that I couldn’t really explain to Emily (that’s where my mom and grandmom stepped in), but because I’ve been in the states for over a year now I knew the differences and I knew the things she might be confused by, so I tried my best to explain whatever I could, even if she didn’t ask.

How does having someone familiar along change your travel experience?

R: For me, most of the time I was trying to explain things, but a couple of the places we visited were also new to me, so we were learning together, and it was definitely way more fun that way. And obviously, just having a friend to keep me company while traveling with my parents (and my little sister later on) made things way more exciting.

E: I think that traveling with someone familiar and with people that know this place as home would be very different than if I had gone somewhere unfamiliar alone. I think traveling alone would have been a lot more difficult, not in a negative sense, but having someone who already knows how things work allowed my experience to be relieved of a lot of possible stress or anxiousness in not knowing. It also made the experience a lot more fun and sillier than I probably would have been alone or with unfamiliar people.

Is your relationship different after this trip?

R: Definitely. We had barely ever spoken when she asked to come to India with me (weird, I know). I think we’re really compatible as friends, and spending two weeks together allowed us to realize that; so it wasn’t necessarily because we got to know each other better or anything like that, just actually spending time together and joking around for the first time.

E: Yes, completely. In fact, before this trip, we had barely known each other. She was a peer and a classmate more than a friend, but for whatever reason, I suppose we both felt comfortable enough to share this exchange. I just sent her a text one day that said "Will you show me your beautiful homeland?". Now, we are fairly close, and it’s interesting having such an intense experience at the foundation of your relationship. 

Would you go on a similar trip again?

E: Absolutely.

R: I would absolutely love to show another friend (or Emily, again) around - in fact I really hope someone comes along with me the next time I go home or I probably won’t enjoy it as much. I’m also definitely interested in being the one shown around.