From the Back Cover
'Well, madam, I will tell you one thing. You are back in India for a good shaking. Here you will dance with death and be reborn. You will be a chameleon of karma...'
After backpacking her way around India, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Macdonald decides she hates the country with a passion. And when a beggar at the airport reads her palm and insists that she will one day return - and for love - she screams 'Never!' and gives India, and him, the finger.
But eleven years later, his prophecy comes true. When the love of her life is posted to India, she leaves her dream job as a radio DJ in Sydney to follow her fiancé to New Delhi, the most polluted city on earth. It seems like the ultimate sacrifice and it almost kills her - literally. One smoggy night, a sadhu smeared in human ashes curses her and she falls dangerously ill with double pneumonia. She survives, but not before she has faced some serious questions about her own mortality and inner spiritual void, not to mention unsightly hair loss.
It's enough to send a rapidly balding atheist on a wild journey through India in search of the meaning of life and death. From spiritual retreats to crumbling nirvanas, war zones and nightclubs, and with the help of the Dalai Lama, a real-life goddess and a couple of Bollywood stars - among many others - Sarah Macdonald discovers a hell of a lot more.
From the Inside Flap
In her twenties, journalist Sarah Macdonald backpacked around India and came away with a lasting impression of heat, pollution and poverty. So when an airport beggar read her palm and told her she would return to India--and for love--she screamed, "Never!" and gave the country, and him, the finger.
But eleven years later, the prophecy comes true. When the love of Sarah's life is posted to India, she quits her dream job to move to the most polluted city on earth, New Delhi. For Sarah this seems like the ultimate sacrifice for love, and it almost kills her, literally. Just settled, she falls dangerously ill with double pneumonia, an experience that compels her to face some serious questions about her own fragile mortality and inner spiritual void. "I must find peace in the only place possible in India," she concludes. "Within." Thus begins her journey of discovery through India in search of the meaning of life and death.
"Holy Cow is Macdonald's often hilarious chronicle of her adventures in a land of chaos and contradiction, of encounters with Hinduism, Islam and Jainism, Sufis, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians and a kaleidoscope of yogis, swamis and Bollywood stars. From spiritual retreats and crumbling nirvanas to war zones and New Delhi nightclubs, it is a journey that only a woman on a mission to save her soul, her love life--and her sanity--can survive.
About the Author
"Sarah MacDonald is a journalist and radio broadcaster who lives in Sydney with her husband, ABC journalist Jonathan Harley, and their daughter Georgina."
Review
"Hilarious and incredible." (B Magazine)
"Kathy Lette meets Tom Robbins on a slow train to Varanasi with Bill Bryson supplying the onion bhajis ... very, very funny." (Peter Moore)
"Prepare for the fast-moving and masterful narration by Kate Hosking. Her characterization of the Indian characters is nuanced and fun. The contrast with the distinctive Australian accents of MacDonald and other ex-pats adds to the sense of adventure and excitement and provides a backdrop for spiritual understanding." (AudioFile Magazine)
![Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure by [Sarah MacDonald]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51AAUGSy8eL._SY346_.jpg)
