Review of "Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure" by S MacDonald
Posted: 14 Jul 2014, 16:36
Review of "Holy Cow: An Indan Adventure" by Sarah MacDonald
As one might guess from the title, this Indian voyage is not for the serious-minded or those likely to take offense easily. For those with a sense of humor and adventure, however, this book is a delight. Australian Sarah Macdonald, backpacking the world at aged 21, could not wait to get out of a country beset by poverty, pollution, and chaos. At the airport, a beggar predicts that she will return to India one day for love.
Clearly, Macdonald had no intention of returning, yet 11 years later just as predicted, she found herself in love with a reporter stationed in New Delhi, and does indeed come back to India. While her journey begins with her attitude much as when she first left, gradually India takes hold of her.
Lots of interesting things happen to Macdonald that affect her experiences in India: She becomes extremely sick, she meets Bollywood actors, visits Indian nightclubs, attends weddings, loses great chunks of her hair in a culture that practically worships it, requests that a faith healer increase her breast size, and finds herself in the middle of 9-11, with her fiancé bound for Afghanistan. All this, and more, await readers of "Holy Cow."
As one might guess from the title, this Indian voyage is not for the serious-minded or those likely to take offense easily. For those with a sense of humor and adventure, however, this book is a delight. Australian Sarah Macdonald, backpacking the world at aged 21, could not wait to get out of a country beset by poverty, pollution, and chaos. At the airport, a beggar predicts that she will return to India one day for love.
Clearly, Macdonald had no intention of returning, yet 11 years later just as predicted, she found herself in love with a reporter stationed in New Delhi, and does indeed come back to India. While her journey begins with her attitude much as when she first left, gradually India takes hold of her.
Lots of interesting things happen to Macdonald that affect her experiences in India: She becomes extremely sick, she meets Bollywood actors, visits Indian nightclubs, attends weddings, loses great chunks of her hair in a culture that practically worships it, requests that a faith healer increase her breast size, and finds herself in the middle of 9-11, with her fiancé bound for Afghanistan. All this, and more, await readers of "Holy Cow."