Holy Cow tourist vs traveller

In ‘’Holy Cow’’ Sarah Macdonald tells us the journey that she had in India. Sarah Macdonald’s first visit is a tourist visit. She was 21 years old and didn’t like India. She and her friend Nick were not use to India, especially the food which gave Nick diarrhea. When she returns twelve years later, she still has a tourist aspect. She doesn’t understand the Indian culture and she is often surprise by things that are normal at India like the arranged weddings, the behavior of civilians in the street and even the way people dress. Since she is a tourist, she needs a driver (Abraham) because she doesn’t know the roads. As a tourist she judge India poorly because of their health system, the death toll in the country, the religion and the pollution. She compares it to Sydney which she finds more pleasant. As a tourist she gets sick and almost dies of pneumonia, which proves she was used to living in India. She is also amazed by the story of Pathmar, which she tells her that she had to leave her boyfriend because of her mother and later when her mother finds out that Pathmar has married Zarmela without her concern, she hangs herself. It is at this point that Sarah Macdonald learns that she has to find inner peace a thus begins her transition from a lost tourist in India to a traveler that knows India

As a traveler, she begins to learn to speak Hindi, which at first is embarrassing because she learns a too much formal Hindi. Her journey starts by visiting different temples of different religions, the first being a Buddhist temple which she stays for ten days. This identifies her more as a traveler since it requires more time, time which a tourist would not have. She then meets different persons of different religions like gurus, Jewish people who believe in Judaism, Indians who believe in Hinduism and even friends of here who believe in Christianity. She manages to learn positive things from each religion, but doesn’t stick with one religion. As a traveler she begins to understand more of India and feel more confident even to the point if driving and picking Jonathan from the airport. The feeling of outsider never goes since people look at her different for being white and at one point she is denied the entrance to a temple since its only for parsis people. In India she travels to meet different people like the holy mother and even gets to meet some Indian celebrities. At the end we see that she has gone from tourist to traveler when she is in a Christian camp with Matt and Emma (who at that time were tourist) and they complain and things that she finds normal. She even mentions that they remind her of when she first came to India. The events of 9/11 cause here to change her beliefs and question her learning’s of peace and mind from different religions. She starts to view the world different which marks that she is no longer a tourist but a traveler of the world. Another example of here change is when she goes to visit Jonathan in Pakistan and starts to evaluate the country with a more traveler judgment. When she returns, she meets a tourist named Rita and she helps her understand India.  At the end she returns to Sidney and admits that she learned much from India ant that in some way India made her. Sarah Macdonald in India had both experiences: that of a tourist and that of a traveler.