I saw the cover at the Daryaganj Sunday Book Market and I was sold over, more so every book at that particular shop was for Rs. 20. That is how I ended up with ‘Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure’ by Sarah Macdonald. Apparently, Ms. Macdonald had visited India in her twenties and had a horrible experience.
So when an airport beggar read her palm and told her she would return to India- and for love- she screamed “Never!” and gave him, the finger. … But eleven years later the prophecy comes true.
And therein lies a boring story. Five reasons why I didn’t like it.
5. The Ending is Predictable: In spite of the tone set by the author from the first few pages of the book you can see the ending from a mile and I am not convinced why it had to be that way. And the book has every formula that one can have in writing a book about India.
4. The Great Village of Delhi: I quite agree that Delhi is polluted, it has the people with worst driving sense in the world, living here could be nerve wrecking experience on the account of the harsh summer alone. But how can you convince me that Vasant Kunj was a village in 2000? That the author never found a McDonald’s or Wimpy or TGIF in 2000 but she saw more elephants and snake charmers in her stay of a few years than I have seen in my entire lifetime in India.
3. Bollywood Anyone: Ms. Macdonald has a brush with quite a few stars of Bollywood. Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan definitely make an appearance in this book. Yaaaaaawn. Another formula?
2. Cribbing, cribbing and cribbing: I know traveling in India is not easy and people do not have the same idea about personal space and the infrastructure sucks. But, if even one single sight of this country fails to move you and you cannot pen in two lines positive about it till we get to the last 10 pages, I get bored. I guess Ms. Macdonald should have gone to Disneyland after all, as she kept mentioning. It sounds more like her kind of place. She cannot see anything but red ass mangy monkeys everywhere. It seems we Indians drugged her and dragged her out of Austraila, instead of she coming out of her own sweet free will.
1. Religion, Religion and More Religion: More than half the book is about Ms. Macdonald’s brush with one religion or the other, while her boyfriend roams the sub-continent on various assignments for Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She is reluctant about religion initially, calls herself atheist and ends up at Kumb Mela. Then, she complaints that she found the place full of devotes and religious activities. What else will one find there? If you do not want religion, stay away from Kumbh like me! It is like saying I went to the Mall and found so many designer labels there! Later, this self proclaimed atheist embarks on a tedious (to the reader) journey of discovering the various religions like, Hinduism, Islam, Sufis, Parsis, Buddhism etc etc etc. Pick this one up at your own risk, don’t tell me later that I didn’t warn you.
Frankly I stay away from all books written by foreigners and especially NRI’s with fiction set in India – they are just terrible and cliched to the T – and I agree completely, almost none of them ever have to say anything good about India.The only books I loved in recent times is “A Fine Balance” – somehow, the writing in that book seemed very earnest and touching – even though it too touched upon one thing or another, it was a great book.Good review here though – I am not going to pick this one in a hurry LOLSuyog
I didn’t like it much either. What annoyed me the most though, was how MacDonald keeps going on and on about how Indians are cruel,racist etc. As if there’s no racism in Australia!
Hi !That was an interesting post. Your blog lead me to think of India and India’s image in the world arena. Leftists and their cohorts seem to be attacking and maligning Indians regularly. they want us look like a bride burning civilizationTo counter this, do Indians lack organizations that promote India in the International arena, that boost our public image ?India, a multicultural society, contributed immensely to Society (say our Dharma), Knowledge (right from Ship Building, Sashtras to Mathematics, Avaita), and political science (Arthashashtra for e.g.), medicine (ayurveda) over 2 millennium However, thanks to the invasions, colonial legacy and partially our own disunity, Indians were stuck with a “..curry and snake charmers image ..” for a 100 years. Even now, we seemed to have shaken that thanks to Info Tech and IT pros. Be it politics or social issues, Why do Indians whip ourselves in public ? Look at the Ramdev Issue. We don’t need Witzels and outsiders to smear us Are we turning into a self hating civilization or is our media Left and anti Indian ?More atWhat is happening to the Kanchi Acharya ?Gudia, a Muslim girl and Ramdev ji, a Hindu male !!orhttp://tinyurl.com/8nn3qVinayak
loved your review! keep it up with the sarcasm, woman!when i was backpacking in India, i would run into these european/aussies and sometimes americans, who basically were there just for the inexpensiveness *i know, not a word… of everything, and were horrified if they actually had to Interact with the Locals, beyond the resaurants and guesthouses.reading your review just reminded me of my rage. 🙂
but every one of the accusations are true isn’t it – Delhi (or for that matter any big city in India) is polluted, dirty, lack basic infrastructure, anybody with a non-Indian look (and my friends from North east complain about how they are treated) will attract a gaggle of people who are trying to rip them off. In most countries travel is a pleasure – not so in India.
I gotta agree with anonymous. As for supremus, I am so sick of the crap ppl get for being brought up overseas. I love how Indians from India like to generalise about NRI’s but when a foreigner even tries to say that India is polluted they get all offended…get over yourselves! As for Sarah Macdonald, I hated the book too and I’m an Aussie NRI. No one is denying there is no racism in Australia, what we are denying is that India is some kind of HEAVEN where beneath the pollution and imitation Gucci’s theres God’s own country blah blah blah. You have no idea how sick of the India stereotypes the NRI’s are sick of!! Btw, I spend 6 months a year working in India and lived there for five years, I love the place. What I dislike are Indians whinging about NRI’s whilst furiously queing up at the US Embassy at 4am (believe me, every time I’m there I get a lecture about the West only to have that person ask me about the migration policy!!!). I agree that there is a stereotype of India as snake charmers etc. but theres also an opinion that India is full of IT geeks…anyone wanna be offended by that for a change?? Geez…as for you Mridula, you keep saying shes whinging, thats all you seem to be doing!!!!
Just reading the summary on the back of the dust cover was enought to give me an insight of what the book contained. Just to be sure, I read a few random pages inside and promptly placed the book back on the racks. So, I am not surprised at your review. Although I wonder why you went through the entire book when the first 10 pages failed to inspire you.
Supremus, I generally read anything I can put my hands on and I do not even bother to check if the author is a NRI. But I do agree many of them have two formula, either India is oppressed and full of poverty or we can offer everything to the world when it comes to nirvana! And I do not like both the lines.Nina, thanks a lot for your comment. I agree.Vinayk, the image of India is changing but before that we have to change a lot. Just a look at our sense of driving and the way we treat women in public places reveals a lot about us. The way we litter drives me mad. But yes, there are many good things too and may they continue to roll in.Why, when I travel I too meet a few foreigners, a few love it, a few do not but I am sure this is true about any country.Anonymous 1, I said in the review I would agree any day Delhi is polluted and every thing, but Vasant Kunj being a village in 2000? Going to Kumbh and then cribbing that you found religion there? Anonymous 2, I have no preset notions about NRIs.The few that I know are of all types, some I get along with extremely well, some I don’t but hey it is the same way with people I meet in India.Patrix, if I start a book, I have to finish it. I was once tempted to leave ‘Master of Petersburg’ by JM Coetzee in the middle. In that book, for more than the first 50 pages a father keeps grieving for his dead son and it was so gloomy, but I completed even that one.
if u felt so bad abt a foreigner thrashing India, well u shud read this book by Dr.Kancha Ilaiah’s ‘Why I am Not a Hindu’. Supposedly it is a part of introductory courses to Hinduism in reputed US universities. You will love it;)A critique of it is available at voiceofdharma.com/indology/Ilaiah.html
Anonymous 3, my review is not about a foreigner thrashing India, it is about reading a book that I didn’t like. Anyone could have written it, and I would have ranted against it. I will follow your link later for sure.
Anirudh, I am having a busy day, unable to follow any links as of now. The book is not offensive but boring and the narration does not ring true in many places, that is my main complaint.
Sounds like absolute crap. And Vinayak has shown me that some Indians still worry more about what foreigners think of us than what we’re actually doing.
I abhor stereotypes and it is HIGHLY annoying when people leave one country to travel to another, only to complain and whine about how that country differs so vastly from their own country. It’s like, if you want the convenience and comfort of Australia, stay in Australia! India is such a vast land filled with so many people and such a unique culture. How can one make a snap judgement based on a few months or just a year or two of living/traveling there? Mdridula, this is a great post and I’m happy that you address the way some Westerners perceive India.
Crystal, thanks for sharing your perspective. I am the first person to admit that there are problems with my country, but I just could not take the continuous cribbing that this book had till the last few pages.
What about the 9 am train? I went all the way to india to hear the symphony, but heard no such thing. McDonald owes us all a refund.
Mira, the 9 am train reference fails to ring a bell at the moment but I agree with the refund idea 🙂