Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland

by Pramila Jayapal

In Pilgrimage to India, Pramila Jayapal, an Indian-born, Western-educated woman, returns to her country of birth and gives readers an inside look at a culture that is both fascinating and largely inaccessible. During her two-year stay, Jayapal finds a people struggling to reconcile time-honored practices with present-day changes, and she herself confronts mixed emotions toward the deeply rooted traditions of the society. Jayapal not only sheds light on India’s societal issues but also weaves a vibrant tapestry of the beauty and mystery of the culture. “Jayapal’s forte lies in translating grassroots-level issues of development for a Western audience. These passages alone make the book a worthwhile read.” — The Village Voice

Genres: Travel, Memoir, India, Indian Literature, Biography Memoir, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 14, 2001

About the author

Pramila Jayapal is an American activist and politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Washington's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents most of Seattle, as well as some suburban areas of King County.

Reviews

[Susan Oleksiw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pramila Jayapal spent a few years of her childhood in India before moving with her family to other parts of the world. Originally from Kerala, her family eventually settled in Bangalore, long after the author had settled in America, completed college, and married an American of European descent. She returns to India on a two-year grant, to learn more about her professional interests, development, and answer deeply personal questions about her identity as an Indian. The trip is a revelation in almost every way.

Jayapal is a feminist and finds herself with intelligent, well-educated upper class Indian woman who, to her amazement, are uncomfortable with the idea of being labeled feminists. The modern women she interviews manage to hold and live by so many contradictory ideas that the author must struggle to hold her tongue. The next tenet of her faith in her western life to be slashed to ribbons is the concept of development as promoted by westerners. She understands early on that the men and women living in isolated villages with problems they and their ancestors have confronted for centuries perhaps have a much better idea of what problems need solving and what solutions might work.

As an Indian in a fairly traditional family, the author grew up with the customs and practices of Hinduism but she has little understanding of what it all means for her on a deeper level. She is the first to admit this, and one section of the book covers her search for insight into the spirituality of her faith and how to approach it. Her forays into ashrams and temples are among the most honest excursions curious westerners will have access to, and are a testament to her honesty as a pilgrim. A lot of her time is spent in Varanasi, and here begins the most moving part of her story.

The author and her husband decide to begin a family, and this decision opens the door to the best and worst that Indian medical care has to offer. Her story brought me to tears for many reasons.

Throughout this book I identified with much that she said and felt about India and her months of discovery, much of what she learned unexpected and confusing. I felt like I was with her at every step, groping to understand, and remembering going through the same feelings when I first went to India almost forty years ago. Few memoirs of encountering India are as insightful, honest, or rewarding as this one.

[Dany · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The agony and the beauty of living in India is just this: that one is challenged every day to look at life not in absolutes but in relatives."

[Mitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed about half of this book: the half that dealt with her actual trip and experiences in India. However, along the way, she reveals herself to be a lost, disconnected soul who is looking for answers to make her 'feel' right while discarding her thinking apparatus. She also romanticizes village life while admitting she will always choose to be an urbanite, participates in multitudes of talky development conferences about helping the poor while meeting in 5-star hotels, and prescribes hazy, quasi-religious solutions that clearly won't apply on a wider basis to the many problems found in India.

It became a real effort to finish because she applied a touchy-feely bandaid to the serious wounds of poverty. I would not recommend it.

[Labyrns · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read a book that I "knew nothing about" to complete a reading bingo card and this fit the bill. Jayapal spent two years discovering India which she had left as a very young child. She visited both northern and southern India, visited coastal areas, trekked in the Himalayas and lived in small towns and villages to get to know the people, their food and housing, their religion, and their hospitality. Her descriptions helped me to see a country I know little about and left me to wonder how much has changed in the last 20 years, especially after the devastation of COVID.

[Maleah Grover-McKay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not all that engaging.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiration from an amazing, adventerous woman. She inspires courage in women who transcend barriers and traditions. She also holds true to those traditions in a way that allows you to connect with her experiences.