Holy Cow (edit title)

• Rated 4 stars

“The book is funny and sweet in its own special way Fast at the same time a relax read.
Her observations are good and I could actually relate to quite a few things she mentioned.
Its like having a chat with Sarah over a cup of "chai".”

• Rated 0 stars

“Amazon review: Australian radio correspondent Macdonald's rollicking memoir recounts the two years she spent in India when her boyfriend, Jonathan, a TV news correspondent, was assigned to New Delhi. Leaving behind her own budding career, she spends her sabbatical traveling around the country, sampling India's "spiritual smorgasbord": attending a silent retreat for Vipassana meditation, seeking out a Sikh Ayurvedic "miracle healer," bathing in the Ganges with Hindus, studying Buddhism in Dharamsala, dabbling in Judaism with Israeli tourists, dipping into Parsi practices in Mumbai, visiting an ashram in Kerala, attending a Christian festival in Velangani and singing with Sufis. Paralleling Macdonald's spiritual journey is her evolution as a writer; she trades her sometimes glib remarks ("I've always thought it hilarious that Indian people chose the most boring, domesticated, compliant and stupidest animal on earth to adore") and 1980s song title references (e.g., "Karma Chameleon") for a more sensitive tone and a sober understanding that neither mocks nor romanticizes Indian culture and the Western visitors who embrace it. The book ends on a serious note, when September 11 shakes Macdonald's faith and Jonathan, now her husband, is sent to cover the war in Afghanistan. Macdonald is less compelling when writing about herself, her career and her relationship than when she is describing spiritual centers, New Delhi nightclubs and Bollywood cinema. Still, she brings a reporter's curiosity, interviewing skills and eye for detail to everything she encounters, and winningly captures "[t]he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day..--he drama, the dharma, the innocent exuberance of the festivals, the intensity of the living, the piety in playfulness and the embrace of living day by day." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. ”

• Rated 0 stars

“If you are an Indian.. u will find this book highly critical...atleast till the mid of the book... from thereon it gets somewhat interesting.”

• Rated 4 stars

“I should have read this before I went to India.”

• Rated 0 stars

“This was interesting. It is about an Australian Girl who travels all over India and her adventures in "finding herself" spiritually. The book gives a wonderful insight to the variety of different religious cultures that can be found throughout all of India. Educational in a fun, easy manner.”

• Rated 3 stars

“Was a good read while I was in India. I think this book would be uninteresting to anyone who has not been to India. The situations are only funny because you can relate to them.”

• Rated 1 stars

“boring memoir..did not like writing style, too simple. author tries to be funny and interesting and isn't either”

• Rated 2 stars

“- "Hari Lal" as described by the author doesnt mean "Green Red" it means Lord Vishnu's Son.
- Author has exaggerated about the film "Yaadein" (oh in fact the name of the film is Yaadein and not Yaardein as she has mentioned REPEATEDLY). The film is not 4 hours long as claimed by the author(in fact none of films made in India are never so long !!). the film infact is just shy of 3hours time.
- In the same chapter she criticises about movie "Dil Chahtha Hai" telling this is the usual run of the mill movie usually made in India. Again this was one of the blockbuster movie mainly because it was quite different from the usual stuff. Be it in direction, costumes, story you name it.
-At one place she is comparing the dressing sense of Pakistani female and Indian female. But how ?? The dress worn by females in pakistan in a five star hotel party with those worn by women in India during pilgrimage (come on Sarah Madam do a proper comparision).
-Except for the last 100-150 pages the author is only complaining...why not tell something good that happened (dont tell me she had encountered only problems in India).

For god's sake dont tell me in Entire Delhi she couldnt get a place where there wasnt dust/pollution. Its national capital and not a village !! why crib about this on and on and on and on and on .... and finally if she dint like the country and the situations cant she and Jonathan (her husband) just sit and talk and leave the country !!!

GUYS IF YOU WANT TO READ A FAR FAR BETTER BOOK ABOUT INDIA I WOULD STRONGLY RECOMMEND "IN SPITE OF THE GODS" by Edward Luce.”

• Rated 2 stars

“good insight into what foreigners think of indians esp our poor civic sense and male chauvanism , however does sound a bit condesending sometimes”