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Book Review:
Mini-encyclopaedic resource
Title: Of Cabbages and Things. Volume 2
Author:Therese Motha
Publisher: Vijitha Yapa
Being random jottings in diary form of a very ordinary housewife.
This is going to be a very short review. I am at a loss for words. It
is given to a fortunate few in this world, and particularly in the world
of letters, to discover one treasure in one lifetime. And yet many
thousands of Sri Lankan newspaper readers were able to acquire a
treasure at an incredibly low cost, through the purchase of ‘Of Cabbages
And Things’, Vol 1 , published in March 2001.
 And now, eleven years later, comes the second, sister volume, the
unexpected second treasure. The first volume was a collection of 200
columns published over 12 years in the delightful Sri Lankan magazine,
Lanka Women, from 1986 to 1997. Readers kept pleading with Motha to
publish the articles in book form.
I have known Motha, and the rest of the Motha family, for nearly
sixty years. She is a shy retiring lady, whom you might call a reluctant
journalist. It took a lot of coaxing to pull these two books from her,
but thank goodness it was finally done. When the first one appeared it
defied definition. Therese herself observed, in the preface, “This is
not a book of recipes. Rather, it is a little bit of everything. Facts
on health, nutrition, origins of food, household hints, quotations, all
this of course, as an added bonus, interspersed with over 200 recipes…”
The two volumes comprise a mini encyclopedia, and will take their
place by the bedside, or kitchen shelf of many a lover of books. Indeed
I see its future, in two volumes, as a giant literary work, in its genre
of course, casting their roots among the hearts of readers, “grappling
them to its heart with hoops of steel.”
And how did these columns come to be? Over some twenty five years,
Therese Motha has been a sensitive reader, listener, observer,
experimenter and eager participant in the daily drama of life. But more.
She has been noting much of this for the benefit of those around her,
and not just stashing it away for herself and her family. And for this
she deserves our heartfelt thanks.
As for her description of her self as ‘a very ordinary housewife’ she
also deserves a mild rebuke.
She is anything but everything. A caring, sensitive, sharing human
being she can be. The first volume had a more complete and therefore
more helpful index.
The first volume had an inspirational line at the bottom, and
separated from the last line of the text.
In the second volume, it is incorporated. In both instances, I
preferred the earlier format.
But these are peccadilloes. Grab both volumes if you can.
They really are worth the money, to have and to hold. I really have
not seen any comparable books within four covers. Open any page at
random and you’ll find gold.
- E C T Candappa
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