The Hindu Business Line : Tears over onion

AT the local vegetable market, one finds people standing with empty bags and equally empty looks, all because of onion prices that are soaring non-stop. A new onion-divide has been created, between those who can still afford to buy the obstinately expensive bulb, and the rest who would rather wait for better times to return. In the meanwhile, though, these unfortunate ones ask many peels of questions. Such as:

Kyon so much daam?

The popular reason is that it rained so much in Maharashtra and killed the crop. Remember that the State supplies more than half the country's onion requirement.

One of the first lessons in economics for dummies is that when supply falls but demand doesn't, price rises. `Highest climb in eight years,' they say, even as the festival season of Ramzan and Diwali are on.

I thought of asking my uncle to send a box of onions from his town!

Perhaps, you are in search of arbitrage possibilities to capture slight differences in price. According to reports, price has been going up throughout the country.

And elsewhere, too. For instance, onion price is Rs 32 per kg in Kalimati market of Nepal, according to www.nepalnews.com. This is double of last year's price. Of the 9,066 tonnes of onion consumed from this market last year, 8,927 tonnes were imported from India, informs the site.

"Onion prices increased in Poland; potato price is still higher," states www.freshplaza.com.

Onions from Pakistan?

You heard it right. Tonnes of onion are crossing the LoC, quite unusually. No firing, please! We need to cut and cook them.

Was it all beyond Pawar's power?

One rightly expects the Agriculture Minister to tell us, "Hey, stock onions because prices will go up in the next couple of weeks." That's how Mani used to keep warning us for months about imminent petrol price hikes, till we stopped believing him.

It seems the onion problem happened just when Sharad was neck-deep in the problems of the cricket board.

What is the present advice?

Cut down on onion consumption, say officials.

Hopefully, they aren't suggesting shallots and leeks as substitutes; for, that would remind us of the `No bread, let them eat cakes' line of Marie Antoinette.

What's so good about onion?

Onions not only provide flavour, but also health-promoting phytochemicals and nutrients, states www.foodreference.com.

"Onions contain quercetin, a flavonoid (one category of antioxidant compounds), and allium."

It seems ancient Egyptians worshipped the onion, "believing that its spherical shape and concentric rings symbolised eternity."

Why do onions make us cry?

"As onions are sliced, cells are broken open," explains Wikipedia.

"Onion cells have two sections, one with enzymes called allinases, the other with sulfides (amino acid sulfoxides).

The enzymes break down the sulfides and generate sulfenic acids. Sulfenic acid is unstable and decomposes into a volatile gas called syn-ropanethial-S-oxide."

The gas reaches the eye and reacts with the water there to form `a mild solution of sulfuric acid.'

"The sulfuric acid irritates the nerve endings in the eyes, making them sting. The tear glands then produce tears in response to this irritation, to dilute and flush out the irritant," elaborates http://en.wikipedia.org.

An onion can make people cry, but there's never been a vegetable that can make people laugh, says Will Rogers.

Alas, you're already shedding tears looking at the price!

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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