2012
Omtale fra Den Norske Bokdatabasen
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 the author discovers a hell of a lot more.
Omtale fra forlaget
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 the author discovers a hell of a lot more.
Forlag Bantam Books
Utgivelsesår 2004
Format Heftet
ISBN13 9780553816013
EAN 9780553816013
Omtalt sted India
Språk Engelsk
Sider 318
Utgave 1
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Jeg kjøpte 'Holy Cow!' av Sarah MacDonald i Jain Book Depot på Connaught Place i New Delhi i desember 2012, fordi jeg fikk et tips fra en engelsk venn om at denne boka bare måtte jeg lese mens jeg var i India.
Sarah MacDonalds historie om hvordan det var å leve og reise rundt i India fikk etter hvert mange gjenkjennende nikk og småhumrende kommentarer fra meg. Siden jeg også (lik forfatteren) oppholdt meg mye i Delhi, fikk jeg også føle på kroppen hvor tungt det ble å puste i denne tungt og travle, trafikkerte og forurensede hovedstaden i India. Det er ikke til å unngå at man får mange tanker om hvordan i all verden alle menneskene i Delhi klarer å overleve i den støvete, bråkete, eksosdunstende byen.
Sarah MacDonald skriver lettlest på engelsk og har mange gode poeng underveis, og jeg vil nesten si det slik at skal du til India, er dette boka du må lese, helst før du drar dit! Da er du godt forberedt på det meste av det du vil komme til å møte på din ferd gjennom dette forunderlige og fantastiske landet.
Hun beskriver godt hvordan hun opplever India med alle de forskjellige trosretningene som finnes der, hennes egne forsøk på å finne ut av hva som er den reneste og sanneste måten å leve (og dø) på, gjennom mennesker hun møter, gjennom alle reisene rundt i landet, og vi får ta del i alle hennes tanker om livet og døden, tro og tvil.
Boka inneholder mye fakta, og selv om den ble skrevet for en del år siden, så er det meste hun skriver om også aktuelt i dag.
India strever fortsatt med et foreldet kvinnesyn. Jenter er fortsatt mindre verdt enn gutter. Det er fortsatt overskudd av gutter/menn. Forsøplingen og forurensingen av elvene og forsøplingen overalt ellers er fortsatt et stort problem. Altfor mange fattige mennesker lever på gata, under broer eller under nærmeste busk. Her har India mye å rydde opp i!
Men boka har som nevnt mange gode poeng for den som vil reise og oppleve Incredible India,
så les den, - og jeg vil påstå at du vil være ganske godt forberedt på hva du vil møte på din ferd.
Ingen diskusjoner ennå.
Start en diskusjon om verket Se alle diskusjoner om verketI can see why Buddhism appeals to so many westerners. The Dalai Lama is a superb ambassador; always calm and smiling, he's untained by scandals and bad television shows. HH also practises what he preaches - non-violence, humility and compassion - and he teaches techniques that appeal to western minds. He even demands doubt, questioning and reasoning. It's exciting to hear a preacher say, 'Don't take my word for it, you must question and question.'
This is also a good faith for those of us oriented to individualism, as it offers a spiritual psychology of self-development. And its central tenet is the one thing us rich western kids can't buy - happiness.
While India may well have a soft spiritual centre, it's also got a hard head for cash, and its middle class (the biggest and fastest growing in the world) is energetically embracing the products and symbols of western consumer culture.
It seems many Indian men have a chronic urinary tract infection - they piss proudly beside the road, up against buildings and in every park. Those with stronger bladders just seem to love the lingam - there are more hands on dicks here than at a hip-hop gig.
By absolving my anger about Christianity I have cleared the last obstacle that stood blocking my readiness for faith. I realise I don't have to be a Christian who follows the church, or a Buddhist nun in robes, or a convert to Judaism or Islam or Sikhism. I can be a believer in something bigger than what I can touch. I can make a leap of faith to a higher power in a way that's appropriate to my culture but not be imprisoned by it.
India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes.
India is a man's world. As a result of female infanticide, where girl babies are aborted, undernourished or murdered, there are fifty-two men for every forty-eight women. In northern India the ratio seems higher - in the streets of Delhi and Mumbai gangs of guys are out in force, strutting and swaggering hand-in-hand, smiling and sneering with bravado. It seems no-one can adore them as much as they adore themselves; one of the most popular t-shirts stretched over scrawny chests and pot-bellies this summer declares 'GOD I'M GOOD'.
Bøker som ble lest før og etter en reise til India i oktober 2012.