Gulgul in Papadom
by Ashok Rajagopalan
“Gulgul in Papadom” by Ashok Rajagopalan. Published by Talking Cub (the children’s book imprint of Speaking Tiger). A fun and food filled adventure of Gulgul in Papadom, the planet of food where giant hens cook for the entire solar system.
Gulgul’s mother Megha has designed a new contraption called Kitchikook which can cook food if it is told the recipe. One of these has been sold to the Kitch-hens or Chef hens who live on the planet Papadom. This is a planet of food where food is grown in one half and cooked in the other half. The food is then sent to homes, restaurants and eating places everywhere across the solar system. Megha has to go there to give a demo to the cooks as to how they could use the kitchikook to cook the food. And Gulgul’s father Jit has a busy day ahead at office. So it is decided that Gulgul will have to accompany Megha whether she likes it or not :)
Gulgul gets to experience another adventure this time! She gets to meet giant hens who are the cooks on P4-P4-DOM (which looks like Papadom isn’t it? :) )The main Kitch-hens are called Bhel Puri and Pani Puri. What else can one expect in a planet of food!? They tell Gulgul about the great mother hen and how she made the entire planet. The kitch-hens have been cooking all kinds of food except sweets. They are awaiting the arrival of the chosen hen to cook the first sweet which is called “Gulgul”! And now, it has been decided that Gulgul is the chosen hen thanks to her name and she is going to cook it. What is her reaction when she gets to know the task set aside for her? Can she make the perfect Gulguls which are round and sweet just like her? Will she be able to get all the ingredients by dodging the gourd dogs in Papadom? How does she feel to be a Kitch-hen? Will she be able to meet the expectations of the the kitch-hens of Papadom? Read the fun and adventure filled book to know all of these.
My eight year old and I enjoyed reading the book. No book about Gulgul can be read without some chuckles at the least :) The wordplay, humour, craziness and deliciousness are just brilliant in the story. Not to forget the lovely illustrations. There is a recipe to make some delicious falooda at the end of the book for the book is bound to leave one looking forward to some good delicious food! Never will kitchen be the same for me atleast from now on. It will definitely remind me of the “Kitch-hens”. The book is the one of the latest from the “The Adventures of Gulgul” series. There are six books now in the series. Some of the others that we have read and enjoyed are “Gulgul in Jungalu”, “Gulgul in Up-up-purra” and “Gulgul in Saregamma”. Whenever we pick a book from the series, we wonder which planet is Gulgul going to in it and what is the theme of that planet :) It seems so natural for her to just blast off into space and visit a planet like we go to different places!
Recommended Age
The book is apt for children aged 8 and above.
Reasons to Read
A refreshing read for those who love fun, adventure, food, humour and some brilliant wordplay :)
Where to buy from?
The publishers Talking Cub here.
Disclaimer - We received this book from the publisher, Talking Cub, for review. Thank you to Tanu, from Talking Cub, for sending across the book!