Born in 1858, Pandita Ramabai would become an important social reformer who worked to achieve better rights for women in India. The tragic events of her life guided her from an early age, from the death of her parents in the 1877 famine to becoming a widow with a young daughter at the age of twenty-four. Soon after, Ramabai traveled across India, and eventually the globe, advocating for equal education and rights for women. In 1883, she was invited to Britain, where she began medical training and eventually converted to Christianity.

From Britain, Ramabai traveled to the United States where she would reside for three years, lecturing and writing, including important criticisms of the treatment of women. During her stay, she also documented her observations of America in a Marathi travelogue titled United Stateschi Lokastithi ani Pravasritt (The People and Travels of the United States), published in 1889.

The following excerpts are from Meera Kosambi’s translation of this book.

Voyage from Liverpool to Philadelphia
In January 1885, Doctor Rachel Bodley, Dean of the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, wrote me a letter, earnestly inviting me to attend the graduation ceremony in Philadelphia in March 1886, at which Mrs. Anandibai Joshee would receive her medical degree. At the time I was studying and teaching at the Ladies’ College at Cheltenham in England. At first I did not accept her invitation for reasons of my own, but she entreated me to come to America by writing again herself and by getting Mrs. Anandibai Joshee and Mr. Gopalrao Joshee to write to me, so that I could not bring myself to decline the invitation, despite several problems. For one thing, Miss Bodley has put us under a great obligation by showing such concern for Hindu women, although she herself belongs to another race and religion. Secondly, Anandibai Joshee’s is the very first example of a Hindu woman having studied a difficult subject like medicine and earned a degree. So I had a great desire to witness the happy occasion when she would receive her degree. That is why, despite the many obstacles to my coming here, I entrusted myself to God Almighty, and sailed with my daughter for America on February 17, 1886, from the port of Liverpool in England, on the ship The British Princess.

Preface
The “United States of America” is a name that would be familiar to many; and many must have seen the map of the country while studying geography. But very few in our country can have any knowledge of the true worth of the United States, the activities of its people, its social conditions and political system, and other such things. When I went from England to the United States at the beginning of 1886, I knew nothing at all about the country other than its name. But within a few days of my arrival, I began to grasp, little by little, the greatness of the nation. As a result, I developed a desire to stay there a little longer and acquire a better knowledge of these matters. Accordingly, I stayed there from March 1886 to the end of November 1888, traveled about 30,000 miles in the country, and obtained information about several things. The happiness I derived from seeing the marvelous things in the United States will remain incomplete unless I share it, at least in some measure, with my dear countrymen and -women.

Summer
When I arrived in the United States of America in March 1886, the winter was on the wane and the spring had started, so I could not see the winter in its true manifestation. It rained several times and snowed occasionally during the last part of March and in April. It is very hot here from May to September. Sometimes the mercury rises even to a hundred and ten degrees, but such days are few and far between. Normally the summer temperatures reach eighty to eighty-five degrees.

The houses here, and their interiors, are designed for the winter, so that it is more difficult to endure the summer here than in our country. Moreover, the customs of these people are different from ours, which causes us a great deal of inconvenience.

An amusing incident occurred in the house of the lady with whom I stayed as a lodger in Philadelphia. Although no one stopped me from doing anything I wanted in my room on the third floor, I had to be very cautious when I went downstairs and was in the company of others at mealtime. One particular day in June happened to be very hot, with hardly any breeze. In the afternoon the whole house was quiet, so, instead of being cautious as usual, I went down to the kitchen barefoot to fetch a glass of water. As ill luck would have it, the very thing that should not have happened, did happen. I was about to go upstairs with the water, when I ran into old Dr. B! Who knows what the old man thought at the sight of my bare feet, but his face fell and his expression showed chagrin and surprise as though at some shameless conduct. I rushed off to my room without looking at his face too long! A couple hours later I was reading in my room and had almost forgotten the incident, when there was a knock on my door. As soon as I said, “Please come in,” a twelve-year-old boy, grandson of old Dr. B., entered and left me a short note which I opened and read as follows:

“I know that it is the custom of your country to walk about barefoot without shoes and stockings; but it is considered immodest in our country. The members of my family are shocked to see you walking barefoot. Be kind enough to wear your shoes and stockings when you come down.

Your friend,
Mrs. B.”

After this incident I vowed never to commit the offense of walking barefoot in anyone’s presence as long as I was in the country.

Read more in Pandita Ramabai's American Encounter: The Peoples of the United States (1889). Translated and edited by Meera Kosambi. Indiana University Press, 2003.

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Special thanks to Tizarat Gill and Manan Desai. Original artwork by Sabaat Kareem.