Read an Excerpt from Cartwheels in a Sari

Listen to my interview on National Public Radio's show, "Talk of the Nation," discussing my memoir, Cartwheels in a Sari.

Also, I was asked to write a column for the Washington Post and Newsweek online. It is in their special section, "On Faith," which examines contemporary religious issues. Please click here to read the article. Feel free to leave a comment at the end.

My new memoir, Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult, published by Harmony Books (a division of Random House), is available now!

- Jayanti Tamm

People Magazine: A Four out of Four Star Review - April 27, 2009

The story of Tamm’s birth—that she pressed her hands together in prayer at barely an hour old—was as festooned with mythology as the spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, who deemed her his “Chosen One.” Tamm recounts how the title meant little; as a member of the controversial religious group, she was subjected to constant manipulation. She says he held “ugly girl” contests and sought to control their private lives, even telling a member to have an abortion. Tamm, who left the group at age 24 after having a psychological breakdown, writes with wit, but her hurt is obvious. Yet as she did after performing cartwheels for Chinmoy (who died in ’07), the now happily married mother lands on her feet—and her effort is worthy of applause. –Reviewed by Beth Perry

Forbes.com Book Review
Under The Thumb Of Cult Leader Sri Chinmoy

Cults are notorious for convincing people to do the unthinkable. In March, a member of the now-defunct One Mind Ministries pleaded guilty to starving her son to death. Allegedly, she and other cult members stopped feeding the 1-year-old because he wouldn't say "amen" at mealtime.

Back in 1993, David Koresh's Branch Davidian sect ended in a conflagration after a 51-day standoff with the FBI. In 1978, over 900 members of the People's Temple died at Jonestown, Guyana, in a mass murder-suicide; and in 1997, scores of Heaven's Gate followers killed themselves in California.
[Click here to read the rest of this review]

Winnipeg Free Press Review 4/26/2009 Review by Jeff Presslaff
Hazards of a controlling leader

It is 2009. Jim Jones, Adolf Hitler, Charles Manson are within living memory. Piles of books, films and TV shows relate the hazards of falling under the spell of a charismatic, controlling leader.

Who needs another? Should there be any sympathy left for those who forsake the responsibility to lead their own lives?

These are some of the questions being directed at Jayanti Tamm, whose memoir Cartwheels in a Sari recounts her 25 years as a disciple of Sri Chinmoy, the Bangladeshi self-proclaimed holy man who amassed a worldwide following in the last decades of the 20th century.

But Tamm is not your ordinary cultist. She did not, like her parents, flee modern alienation for the safety of an all-knowing guru who would direct her life.

She is also unlike other children born to such parents, who either take to the community or fall away with little consequence.

Tamm was the Chosen One — a soul allegedly called down from heaven to serve history’s greatest avatar (his own assessment) as his most devoted disciple.

Or perhaps the Guru simply finessed an awkward situation. [Click here to read the rest of this review]

Booklist Review
In this frank, clear-eyed memoir, Tamm recounts her youth as the chosen disciple of Sri Chinmoy, the
wildly charismatic leader of a New York–based spiritual sect that counts celebrities and heads of nations
among its millions of followers. “All of my childhood memories involve trying to obey and please guru,”
Tamm writes, and with concise, absorbing detail, she describes her early years, spent playing board games such as “Disciple Chutes and Ladders” (“Did not meditate soulfully—Go back ten spaces”); her chaste but forbidden teen encounters with guys, after which the Guru reminds her, “The Supreme is your eternity’s boyfriend”; and a young-adult crisis that leads to a suicide attempt and, ultimately, her break with the cult. Tamm never sensationalizes the facts, and her narrative restraint only intensifies the emotional impact of each incident. Witty, compassionate, and often heartbreaking, Tamm’s story offers crucial insight into a cult’s inner workings and methods of indoctrination. All readers, though, will recognize universal coming-of-age themes as Tamm discards unwanted childhood lessons and begins to shape an independent adult life.