35 Comments

“The investigation was successful because by the end, the mystery was not solved, but kept alive.” What a fabulous teacher you are !🤗🤗🤗. Didn’t know about the heatstroke nuska. One lives and learns 😊. An 🧅 for you 🤗

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Thank you, Binu!! You found the onion emoji and your comment made me dance. 💓

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I searched for the onion 😂. Had to give you one, and now one more - 🧅💗💗❤️

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Yay Thank you 🌸🧅 I will chop them for lunch ♥️

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You are such a genius teacher/writer/observer. I often jealous with your students, I compare all my teachers with you. Tumhari aankhein jahan poetry dekh par rahi hai, wo dekhna rare hai. Humse apna dekhna share karne ke liye, bahot shukriya Raju.

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Can we please start a petition to get Raju Tai to teach us how to have a lovely affair with metaphors?!

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Sanobar, I am preparing for this.... 💓

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Bass, I'm waiting in line to book a place :))

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Thank you, dearest nazmo wala. Can't wait to eat white onions with you. And to admire other ordinary pleasures of life.

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I now want to taste them, smash them and tie them on my head with a scarf. FOMO ho Gaya!

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Will bring them for you if we meet some day ❤️🤍

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I love everything about this so much.

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Thank you, Sarah! Felt like a butterfly being read by you. 💓

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You make the mundane feel so important & loveble. You inspire me to write an ode to baingan ka bhartta

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Thank you, Neena. I NEED to read anything you write on Baingan ka Bharta... 💓

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I didn’t know that carrying an onion with you could prevent heat stroke! And seeing that string of white onions reminds me that I haven’t really noticed them selling in Delhi.

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Yes, Shinjini! Nature is marvellous... I'm so happy to be read by you... I am looking forward to dive into your archive too. 💓

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Aah! Unfortunately, one cannot easily get white onions in Delhi! For first 30-0dd years in my life, smashing an onion on the floor to eat with Bhakari and chatani was such a simple and pure joy! Nostalgia! My mouth is watering!! Albeit, my wife from Ahmedabad could never understand it!

Thank you.

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Ah what a visual, Ulhas! Bhakri, chatni, and white onion. 💓 Thank you.

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The onomatopoeia made this essay so rich. It was so Saturday to read eventho I hate onions, you almost changed my mind haha.

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Ah! Thank you Krisha, that is so so kind. I didn't notice the onomatopoeia. 💓 I've hated onions for many years before liking them so I hear you.. 💓

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Satisfying*

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Always fascinated by the white onions sometimes seen hanging in Mumbai, never knew the origin of this practice!

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So much love and beauty here. Let me try an ode too this week!

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Yesss Please! And please share with me 💘 Thank you

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Your ode is fabulous, Raju. I was also taken back to the time of reading Neruda’s ode to a sandwich in college. It was so much fun, but your class seems twice funner. “You are the nearest sun I have seen.” 🤍🤍

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Thank you Priyanka! Reading the sandwich ode ASAP. 🌹🌹

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What a magical ode Raju! And you have educated and enriched us on the wonders of the white onion, as also inspired us to write odes of the many seemingly ordinary but actually extraordinary things that surround us everyday.

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Dear Shalini, thank you so much. 🌹💓

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My father grew up in Katol and Nagpur and he told me carrying an onion in their pockets against the ‘looh’ was one of the measures they took :).

Loved this beautiful, evocative piece Raju.

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This is such a coool fact, Tanya. I am so glad to find this unexpected connection. 💓💓

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Delicious essay. I LOVE white onions, your ode brought back happy memories of family holidays in dusty Konkan villages where we’d always buy a braid or two of white onions on the way home!

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Thank you, Sai... So glad to find a white onion lover... Konkan food is epic!

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This is ABSOLUTELY stunning, Raju. You brought alive the ritual of kanda thechun khaane!

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Thank you Nikita... Mast stunning kaam karneka hai life mein... when there are such stunning and uplifting friends.. 💓💓

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