An Analysis Of Sarah Macdonald's 'Holy Cow'

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Sarah Macdonald. Australia: Bantam(Transworld Publishers, 61-63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA). ISBN 978-0-553-81601-3, 2002, 320 pp. (references), $18.89 (paper). An amalgamation of a travel journey encompassed with occasional wit and humor, Sarah Macdonald wrote Holy Cow: An Indian Adventure. Macdonald, an Australian Journalist and radio presenter at Triple J, left her job to join her husband, ABC’s foreign correspondent Jonathan in India for two years. Clearly an impactful journey, Sarah published her first travel account. Holy Cow is an inside look of a vividly diverse religious field study. It demonstrates the challenges and benefits living in India especially to travelers, people traveling with the purpose of learning new experiences …show more content…

Shortly after surviving double pneumonia, she was accompanied with news of her friend Padma’s mother demise due to Indian conservatism. India then decided to take away most of her hair as well as leftover self-confidence. Towards the end of her journey, her spiritual growth amplified after picking up eight other religions. But once again, her faith was greatly shaken, this time by the terrorist bombing on New York’s Twin …show more content…

Blanton (1997) agreed, “but also served to shift the emphasis in travel writing from descriptions of people and places to accounts of the effects of people and places on the narrator”. For instance, in this male-dominated society, Sarah felt terribly grossed out by the male preference in India and awful treatment towards women when she first encountered ‘dowry burning’. Not to mention the lack of respect to their women, even foreigners. Sarah was a living testament herself, getting touched and harassed during solo trips. The turning point came her willingness to give the Indian males a chance, treat them without prejudice and discrimination after partaking in the Darshan ceremony with Hugging Amma. She even felt that she harbored a harsh judgement towards them and could do better without that. This is definitely a personal touch on her experience in

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