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THE ROPE IN THE WATER A Pilgrimage to India "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." Traveling 12,000 kilometres across deserts and through jungles, Fraser visits the twilight city of Varanasi on the Ganges, dense with the smoke of a hundred 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 Noble Silence; to the southwest coast where she visits the ashram of India's most revered female guru, believed by her followers to be a god incarnation; and to the Kovalam beach where her life is saved by what can only be described as a miracle. From the fluorescent seas of brilliant turbans to the hot crush of urban bazaars, Fraser brings alive the sense-luscious tapestry of India, while exploring Eastern concepts such as "You create your own future" and "Change yourself and you change everything." Humorous and intelligent, The Rope in the Water is an uplifting yet earthbound literary odyssey for all those interested in spiritual and physical worlds beyond their own. |
| Thomas Allen Publishers 352 pages, $32.95 hardcover $24.95 paperback Available at Canadian bookstores or online at www.indigo.ca |
| PRAISE FOR THE ROPE IN THE WATER "a brave meditation on the work of spiritual transformation." - The Globe and Mail "an immensely rewarding read." - Macleans "Fraser's entire life has been an incredible journey... I was caught in the spell." - NOW Magazine "...a great introduction to the bedazzling world of Indian spirituality..." - Tim Ward, author of What the Buddha Never Taught "Sylvia Fraser lets herself float in the current of India. Thanks to her questing intellect and fearless curiosity, we are carried along with her to strange and wonderful new shores." - Marni Jackson, journalist and author |