The Rope in the Water: A Pilgrimage to India [Paperback]

"...a brave meditation on the work of spiritual transformation." (Globe and Mail )

"Part travelogue, part memoir, part journal of self-discovery...full of delightful vignettes and character studies, all seamlessly woven together and fascinating." (Hamilton Spectator )

"...an immensely rewarding read." (Maclean's )

"At Kovalam beach on India's southwestern shore I plunge into the Arabian Sea, the same soft temperature as the air...Looking shoreward, I see lifeguards gesturing. Since I'm much further than I imagined, I begin a determined swim toward them...The lifeguards continue to blast and gesture, but I'm powerless against the riptide irresistibly sweeping me out to sea. Though my situation appears hopeless, I'm about to undergo the most remarkable and mysterious event of my life...." So begins "The Rope in the Water", the story of Sylvia Fraser's three-month pilgrimage to India in search of "something larger than myself, something deeper, something more." Travelling 12,000 kilometers across deserts and through jungles, Fraser visits sacred sites such as the twilight city of Varanasi on the Ganges, dense with the smoke of hundreds of funeral pyres; north to the glittering Golden Temple of the Sikhs; up Mount Abu where she stays with a Hindu sect called the Brahma Kumaris; south to a Buddhist retreat where she meditates eleven hours a day for ten days while observing a vow of silence; and to the Kovalam beach where her life is saved by a miracle. Fraser brings alive the sense-luscious tapestry of India, from its fluorescent seas of turbans and flowing robes, to the cerulean alleyways and the hot crush of urban bazaars, while exploring Eastern concepts such as "You create your own future" and "Change yourself and you change everything." Humourous and intelligent, "The Rope in the Water" is an uplifting yet earthbound literary odyssey for all those interested in the physical and philosophical worlds beyond their own.

“At Kovalam beach on India’s southwestern shore I plunge into the Arabian Sea, the same soft temperature as the air… Looking shoreward, I see lifeguards gesturing. Since I’m much farther out than I imagined, I begin a determined swim toward them… The lifeguards continue to blast and gesture, but I’m powerless against the riptide irresistibly sweeping me out to sea. Though my situation appears hopeless, I’m about to undergo the most remarkable and mysterious event of my life…”

So begins The Rope in the Water, the story of Sylvia Fraser’s three-month pilgrimage to India in search of “something larger than myself, something deeper, something more.” As a solitary traveler, free of the props, masks and distractions of daily life, Fraser continues the inner odyssey that she began in My Father’s House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing (1987), approaching India as a fabulous dream in which everything happens for the purpose of teaching something of value.

Travelling 12,000 kilometers across deserts and through jungles, she visits sacred sites such as the twilight city of Varanasi on the Ganges, dense with the smoke of hundreds of funeral pyres; north to the glittering Golden Temple of the Sikhs; up Mount Abu where she stays with a Hindu sect called the Brahma Kumaris; south to a Buddhist retreat where she meditates 11 hours a day for 10 days while observing a vow of silence; and to the beach in Kovalam where her life is saved by a miracle.

Fraser employs her lyrical yet incisive writing style to bring alive the sense-luscious tapestry of India, from its fluorescent seas of turbans and flowing robes in saffron, raspberry and lime, to the cerulean alleyways and the hot crush of urban bazaars, simultaneously exploring Eastern concepts such as “You see what you are,” “You create your own future” and most importantly, “Change yourself and you change everything,” sparked by occasional dialogues with her enigmatic Indian guru.

Humorous and intelligent, The Rope in the Water is an uplifting yet earthbound literary adventure for all those intrigued by the physical and philosophical worlds beyond their own.

Sylvia Fraser is the best-selling author of nine books, including the internationally acclaimed "My Father's House: A Memoir of Incest and of Healing", and "The Quest for the Fourth Monkey: A Thinking Person's Guide to the Physic and Spiritual Revolution" (previously published as "The Book of Strange). A resident of Toronto, she is currently working on a book about shamanism in the Amazonian Basin.