Jayanti
Tamm, M.F.A.,
was born into a family of devout
followers, where absolute obedience
to the cult leader Sri Chinmoy was
required. She spent 25 years in
Chinmoy’s inner circle, where he
played the role of both father and
God. After Tamm left the group in
1995, she spent years attempting to
hide and forget her past
experiences. . Finally, in an
attempt to make sense of her past,
Tamm wrote, Cartwheels in a Sari:
A Memoir of Growing Up Cult,
which was published to national
acclaim by Random House in 2009. The
book will be released in paperback
in December 2010. Ms. Tamm is an
English Professor at Ocean County
College in New Jersey
