Dhaka, Nov. 8 -- Onions are among the biggest pleasures of life. They can also, in moments wrought in unpredictability, be a source of pain. Think of the tears which flow freely when onions are being peeled. We weep when we go through heartbreak. And heartbreak can come in a variety of forms. But with onions it is not heartbreak that draws out the tears from our eyes. Onions are God's gift which gives us tears of joy. Look at it this way. The tears flow incessantly as a housewife peels all those onions and yet she does not complain, for she knows that these onions will enrich the food she is about to cook. Onions, then, are a mark of the sophistication an individual scales in culinary skills.

But, again, there are all the moments in our ...