Santha Rama Rau was an Indian American travel writer. Her father, Sir Benegal Rama Rau, was an Indian diplomat and ambassador. Her mother was Dhanvanthi Rama Rau, a leader in the Indian women's rights movement who was the International President of Planned Parenthood. As a young girl, Rama Rau lived in an India under British rule. When she was six, she accompanied her father on a political trip to England. There she was educated at St. Paul's School for Girls, and graduated in 1939. After short traveling through South Africa, she returned to India to discover a different place than she remembered. She applied to Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts, in the United States, and was the first Indian student to be accepted there. She graduated with honors in 1944. Shortly afterward, she published her first book Home to India. When India won its independence in 1947, Rama Rau's father was appointed as his nation's first ambassador to Japan. While in Tokyo, Japan, she met her future husband, an American, Faubion Bowers. After extensive traveling through Asia and a bit of Africa and Europe, the couple settled in New York City, New York. 

January 24th, 1923 in Chennai  /  Died:   Apr 21st, 2009