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The real tear-jerker

Indian homemakers on their way home from procuring veggies for the day’s meal might soon run the risk of being accosted by robbers who want not the money in their purse but the onions in their shopping bag!

With prices of onions, a staple in most Indian dishes going through the roof, hitting almost Rs.80 a kilogramme, there are more reasons why the tears are falling fast and furious when homemakers slice onions in the kitchen. If they use onions at all, that is.

Industrious home-makers are switching to a more non-Indian menu to feed their families, turning their back on the onion-garlic-tomato gravy that is a large part of cooking dishes in large parts of the country. Mealtimes are suddenly being taken over by smarter-on-the- wallet choices — dishes that don’t require significant amounts of onions and tomatoes — these are expensive too. South Indian food is now finding favour because these recipes don’t call for too much onions or tomatoes .

Smart homemakers are taking their families out to eat more — it is cheaper to eat out these days because restaurants can’t hike their prices in keeping with the price of veggies in the market, but smarter restaurateurs have ditched the staple offer of complimentary sliced onions that accompany every dinner service or snack. The onion bhajiya, (spicy , fried onion fritters) a street food staple available for as little as Rs5-10 a portion, has disappeared from the stalls and people are making do with humbler snacks like chickpea and potato bhajiyas.

Soaring prices of the onion has now made it a hot favourite of robbers. In Rajasthan this week armed robbers waylaid a truck which was transporting some 7-8 tonnes of onions to a Northern city of India and made off with it. They were caught soon after but escaped after they dumped the fruit, err, onion of their labour.

All is well that ends well?