ON A SHOESTRING TO COORG: An Experience of Southern India

by Dervla Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 1989

Irish travel writer and memoirist Murphy (Wheels Within Wheels; Ireland; Nuclear Stakes) has in the past bicycled from Ireland to India and traveled Ethiopia by mule. Here, she recounts a perhaps more daunting adventure--taking her five-year-old daughter wandering through southern India with little money and only what they can carry on their backs. Past visits to India had left Murphy somewhat repelled. However, she suspected her response ""exposed a personal limitation rather than the defects of Indian civilization. . . unlike the impregnably self-assured Victorian imperialists I could not convince myself that a failure to appreciate India was a mark of virtue."" And so in 1973 she decided to return, young Rachel in tow. Leaving behind the vividly described poverty of Bombay, the pair head south. Inland from the Malabar Coast, they come upon the lush, remote, comparatively prosperous region of Coorg: local people are curious and hospitable despite the danger of pollution by associating with casteless foreigners. Murphy's style is engaging, and she is honest about her dislikes and prejudices without ever falling into fashionable travel writer misanthropy: she is also enlightening on aspects of Hinduism and the dynamics of the caste system. The journal format, however, limits development of the material, while Rachel's perspective--which might have added more human interest to the experience, especially in retrospect--is generally reduced to cute childish remarks. Engaging writing and interesting view of rural India, but as an adventure, this journey often falls flat.

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Overlook--dist. by Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1989

Categories: NONFICTION