Experience a vicarious voyage to India when Phoenix author Victoria Kjos returns to discuss her latest travel memoir, “Welcome to India: One Woman’s Adventure,” at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 27 at the Velma Teague Library, 7010 N. 58th Ave., Glendale.

After years spent in the legal, real estate and banking fields, Ms. Kjos felt something was missing in her life.  Disposing of most of her material possessions, she left for extended trips to India over the past five years, documenting not only the joy and serenity she discovered, but also the trials of living in such a different and often chaotic culture.

Ms. Kjos will share her stories about life in India, show photographs, answer questions, and sign books, which will be available for purchase.

"Many fantasize about leaving the materialistic west to search for life's meaning in spiritual India. Few, however, actually walk away from a productive career, dispose of all belongings except what fills thirteen boxes, and set out on such a quest. Alone, carrying two outdated guidebooks, this renaissance woman--a practitioner of yoga, gigong and meditation whose prior work included being a lawyer, banker, political consultant, realtor, teacher, and saleswoman--left America. With no plans aside from following an inner guidance, her compass was a deep-seated belief in the oneness of humanity and connection to the divine.

"A journey that is occasionally heartrending, sometimes challenging, often hysterical, and always poignant, readers will be mesmerized by this "spoiled westerner's" transformative adventures. From box-stealing cows to powerful chanting to child abuse to near collapse from heat exhaustion and livestock stench, these plainspoken journals transport you, as if walking beside her, to ashrams, streets, temples, trains, and marketplaces of South India. Whether avoiding critters in ashrams, maneuvering the country's unique toilets, or dealing with language challenges, she becomes entranced by the paradoxical cacophony and magical joys, and most significantly, by the overwhelming kindness and generosity of the Indian people."

This program is free and open to the public.

Call 623-930-3431 for questions.

Editor’s note: Stephanie C. Rumsey works at Velma Teague Library.