Bhog Naivedya

 I have decided not to start a new book unless I have finished writing a comprehensive review of the last one. Reasons? I hardly can form a cohesive piece of writing which does not sound like the rambling of my mind. I need to practise writing on a focussed topic and it is high time I get on it. Oh, And my blog needs to be resuscitated too.

So, let us get started. However, this post might be longer than the review itself.
After having been to (only) some of the famous (and some others not so) temples in India, I have always wondered why temple food tastes soo different, delectable? Of course, the one reason is slow cooking imparts its own flavours which are hard to get in home kitchens. But are there any other factors? And the variety you encounter is a reflection of the vast culinary diversity of India.

For example, Vaishno Devi Prashad includes dried apples and walnuts. The sweet and sour pumpkin curry served in Chattarpur mandir langar is one of my favourites. While I will never forget the delicious khichadi I used to have daily in RK Ashram, Puliotharai served in Meenakshi Amman temple has its own charm. We can talk on and on and we will only scratch the surface. So, one day, I decided to read a book about it (name the topic and there is always a book about it somewhere) and I chose  ‘Bhog Naivedya’. Though in hindsight, I should not have judged a book by its title (or don’t judge it at all - books are deceiving in that way). You may hate a book till you are halfway through and then realise you have started understanding it just now. Or you may try as you might, never be able to finish it (not because of time… just the book doesn’t seem worth of it). 

Some books demand your patience to extract their value. This is not one of those. If anything, the author was confused as to how to present the information she has gathered in this book. In some places, the book flows and is delightful to read. While the rest of it seems more like a collection of itineraries, routines and recipe cards.Despite the efforts of the author, the book is not coherent. The one evident thing is that she has done a lot of travel and research for this book. But the presentation falters. Seriously, flipping through the detailed daily rituals feels like going through daily calendar entries. This is certainly not what I had in mind while going for this book. I wanted to know the variety and history behind prasad, of which the author has managed to get plenty of. But the rest of it needed tighter editing. Her rendering of Attukal Pongala is an example of what this book could have been.

One thing I learned was that bhog items need not be the same which are served as prasad. The variations of bhog are mindboggling. This book is rich in personal narrative, though I wonder why some parts are in Wikipedia entry format. I struggled to finish and only held on by the promise of finding good stories here and there.