Question

Interview any one of your older relatives (mother/ father/grandparents/uncles/aunts) who has travelled outside your town or village. Find out (a) where they went, (b) how they travelled, (c) how long did it take, (d) why did they travel (e) and did they face any difficulties. List as many similarities and differences that they may have noticed between their place of residence and the place they visited, focusing on language, clothes, food, customs, buildings, roads, the lives of men and women. Write a report on your findings.

Answer 1

Interview Report: Travel Experiences and Observations

• Interviewee: Ramesh Kumar (Grandfather, Age 72)
• Place of Residence: A small village near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Part 1: Journey Details

1. Destination Visited: New Delhi.
2. Mode of Transport: Steam engine passenger train.
3. Duration of Journey: Approximately 18 hours in 1972.
4. Purpose of Travel: Seeking a government job vacancy.
5. Difficulties Faced: Massive crowds at stations, delayed trains, and navigating without digital maps or signs.

Part 2: Comparative Analysis

Feature	Similarities	Differences
Language	Both regions spoke Hindi natively.	Delhi used a more urban, mixed dialect (Hindustani) compared to the regional Bhojpuri-inflected Hindi at home.
Clothes	Older men in both places wore dhotis or kurtas.	Young men in Delhi wore Western trousers and shirts; women predominantly wore salwar-kameez rather than traditional sarees.
Food	Staple items like rice, dal, and wheat rotis were common.	Delhi offered street food varieties like chole bhature and chaat, which were uncommon in the village back then.
Customs	Morning prayers and general hospitality values were identical.	The pace of life was highly individualistic in Delhi, with fewer tight-knit community celebrations.
Buildings	Brick-and-mortar construction existed in both.	Delhi had multi-story concrete apartments, vast government complexes, and historical stone monuments.
Roads	Basic connectivity existed in both areas.	Delhi featured wide, metalled tar roads with heavy vehicular traffic, unlike the narrow dirt paths of the village.
Lives of Men & Women	Men were the primary breadwinners in both areas.	Women in Delhi walked freely in markets, worked in offices, and used public buses independently.

Conclusion:

The interview reveals that travelling in the late 20th century shared similarities with medieval accounts, where travellers faced logistical hurdles but were fascinated by urban centres. The socio-cultural differences highlighted how urban migration alters lifestyle, dress, and women’s public participation compared to rural setups.