tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post9049127513859714582..comments2024-03-28T22:51:28.222+05:30Comments on The Middle Stage: Shashi Tharoor, banally in love with IndiaChandrahashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-9236497018254064092009-06-01T20:25:40.780+05:302009-06-01T20:25:40.780+05:30The only book of Shashi Tharoor's that I have read...The only book of Shashi Tharoor's that I have read is 'Riot', and I regretted it almost as soon as I had begun. Not only was the book shallow and practically unreadable, Shashi Tharoor just couldn't resist mentioning that the protagonist was also from that great institution, St. Stephen's College. The mark of all successful men like yourself, isn't it Mr. Tharoor?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-89556816046821930352009-05-22T10:11:36.441+05:302009-05-22T10:11:36.441+05:30wow, you got it perfectly correct. he had come to ...wow, you got it perfectly correct. he had come to my college and had used his tiresome metaphor of the damn elephant repeatedly, it was just painful. oh and talking about the "cellphone revolution" he also "recalled a humorous paradigm": "long back, the sons of fishermen would run miles to inquire about the prices of fish, but now, mind you, even the daughters may help the father for they dont have to walk miles but can just use the cellphone to inquire about the prices. (add shashi tharoor deep diplomatic-esque laugh to it) and we all know the affinity of girls towards a phone" (more of tharoor's laugh)" and yes these are his exact words.<br />good lord.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-66576360939657732192009-01-26T03:40:00.000+05:302009-01-26T03:40:00.000+05:30Firstly, I haven't read any of his books. So, I do...Firstly, I haven't read any of his books. So, I don't really have a right to have an opinion on a review. But, I do have an opinion on what kinds of works can/need be out there, and how we should view them. <BR/><BR/>Don't know how true, the statement 'if one thing is true about India, the opposite is also true', really is. But, one thing is noticeable. If someone writes or makes movies on India's poverty and slums, they get thrashed for it. Then there's somebody, praising India and what Indians have accomplished, they get thrashed for it. What gets left in between these two forms are newspapers - facts, mostly stripped of opinion or evaluation ( Very very personal to each author. Hence, very varied). Each kind of (author's) opinion serves different purposes. One wants to say, don't get too much above yourself, look at all the muck and destitution. The other sort says, don't get bogged down, we've accomplished so much, we can do more! I think we need both kinds. We needed that Tharoor book, and the thrashing of it. So that we may find some edification in the whole process.<BR/><BR/>I agree [:)] that too much use of 'I' can be annoying. Well, we'll just have to somehow tell him.youprathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09395191797717641003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-64089534251272011092009-01-03T13:27:00.000+05:302009-01-03T13:27:00.000+05:30Wonderful review. Eye opening.Wonderful review. Eye opening.Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03373808472983278972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-27668462616592403462008-05-25T07:55:00.000+05:302008-05-25T07:55:00.000+05:30I somehow do not understand the 'contrast and iron...I somehow do not understand the 'contrast and irony' in a sadhu using a cellphone. Nobody sees any irony if a pastor/priest or Bishop in the west uses a cell phone. <BR/>I wonder if this subconsciously equates the west (or Christianity) with modernity. <BR/>I think you have been very kind to Tharoor. Tharoor comes across as a pompous, superficial 'liberal', the type who keeps using empty phrases like 'ancient civilzation' and 'diversity' without knowing anything about Indian history or culture. He is a Nehruvian pseudo Indian born and brough up in India, holds an Indian passport but would be utterly lost among most Indians. If I were to pick the worst columns and editorials in TOI in the last one year 9 out of 10 would be Tharoor's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-58589486647766980422008-01-17T22:53:00.000+05:302008-01-17T22:53:00.000+05:30Thanks - can't count the number of times I've been...Thanks - can't count the number of times I've been smiling while reading your post :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-74288908167464296632007-12-06T16:48:00.000+05:302007-12-06T16:48:00.000+05:30Amitava - These matters are now so ancient that it...Amitava - These matters are now so ancient that it seems most prudent (and I am a big one for prudence) not to take them up again. But I am happy that you have read my essay all the way through, instead of heading straight to the conclusion like you usually do.Chandrahashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07483080477755487202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-61752701268053022292007-11-30T10:00:00.000+05:302007-11-30T10:00:00.000+05:30Chandrahas...Great review!Chandrahas...<BR/><BR/>Great review!Kartikeya Datehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03512491310629949028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-9733628929409099052007-11-27T05:30:00.000+05:302007-11-27T05:30:00.000+05:30Good review.In the last line of the piece, you wri...Good review.<BR/>In the last line of the piece, you write of "a work so banally, so fatally, in love with India as The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone." In love with India? I think you mean "in love with Shashi Tharoor."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-72881317107225675562007-11-21T23:09:00.000+05:302007-11-21T23:09:00.000+05:30Hash -- great reviewYou've hit the nail on the hea...Hash -- great review<BR/><BR/>You've hit the nail on the head. <BR/><BR/>The biggest thing Tharoor has going for him may well be the TINA factor. He's got very little competition! How many half-decent observers on Indian politics and economics are as visible or voluble as Tharoor?<BR/><BR/>Tharoor is a well-packaged master of glib phrases. He spends his energy showing off his cleverness, rather than coming up with anything new to say. Razor-quick repartees and witty word-tricks make for formidable extempore debating. However, they're no substitute for meaningful analysis or true insight.<BR/><BR/>This superficiality is partly why almost all the well-read desis/ FOBs I've met don't think much of Shashi Tharoor..<BR/><BR/>For instance, a friend, when asked what he thought of Tharoor replied, "I don't".<BR/><BR/>Another friend called Tharoor the John Kenneth Galbraith of India pundits ie, taken as an expert on India by outsiders but ignored by those with any knowledge of India. I think the analogy is apt.<BR/><BR/>Then there's the matter of Tharoor's personality -- the most common adjectives used while describing Tharoor are probably "self-aggrandizing", "superficial", "supercilious", "glib and lightweight", "pompous", "irritating". And of course, his pseudo-Brit accent, which interestingly enough, disappears in private parties featuring a large contingent of FOBs/ desis.<BR/><BR/>However, at the end of the day, we desis ignore Tharoor at our peril. For just as Galbraith seduced the non-economists with his guff, Tharoor is coloring the views of many otherwise intelligent people. <BR/><BR/>That's why we need to provide, or at least, highlight alternative voices, among them the Sushmita Sen of Libertarian JournalistsAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-75842333284780444782007-11-18T19:07:00.000+05:302007-11-18T19:07:00.000+05:30Very very mediocre writer, shashi tharoor! I happe...Very very mediocre writer, shashi tharoor! I happened to read his book 'Show Business' and it was a torture. He is nothing more than a poster boy!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-59913818746561521572007-11-18T10:42:00.000+05:302007-11-18T10:42:00.000+05:30You have been extremely charitable in your review....You have been extremely charitable in your review. This guy is not only a 'pompous old bore', but also manages to get unjustifiably high visibity in the media. His columns in the papers are exclusively meant to promote his books. Then he publishes a collection of his columns in a book form, and this viscious spiral keeps perpetuating itself.Rajhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09367344161081393779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-6721351423217099362007-11-18T09:40:00.000+05:302007-11-18T09:40:00.000+05:30Good stuff, my friend. wonderful.Good stuff, my friend. wonderful.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-91941022619184425462007-11-17T12:57:00.000+05:302007-11-17T12:57:00.000+05:30Chandrahas, thanks! Long have I wanted to say some...Chandrahas, thanks! Long have I wanted to say some of these very things about Tharoor's hideous column, and now you've put it much better than I ever could have. Super review.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-88024098147830085752007-11-13T14:13:00.000+05:302007-11-13T14:13:00.000+05:30Finally somebody who doesn't fall over Tharoor's w...Finally somebody who doesn't fall over Tharoor's writing, and values it for what it is,is what I felt after reading your review.<BR/><BR/>It has become a practice with Tharoor to regurgitate his ideas and thanks to his reputation,he always gets away with it.His writings,unmistakably smacks of a penchant for marketing well known ideas about India as his own creation.In fact,what he once thought of R.K.Narayan's writing, as dull and nothing much to be talked about, more applies to his own writing than of others.Balakrishnanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16529356303343614600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-49312700247661576312007-11-13T09:21:00.000+05:302007-11-13T09:21:00.000+05:30Chandrahas,Nicely done. Your review is a masterpie...Chandrahas,<BR/><BR/>Nicely done. Your review is a masterpiece of comic writing (comedic? as the Americans might say). I will read the book, to enjoy the cliches, but won't buy it.<BR/><BR/>BestRohit Choprahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13947295580488031169noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9082470.post-74590380989325438652007-11-12T16:01:00.000+05:302007-11-12T16:01:00.000+05:30Shashi Tharoor is the kind of pompous old bore you...Shashi Tharoor is the kind of pompous old bore you will find in a Georgette Heyer romance, where there are at least two characters blessed with a sense of humour enough to show up said bore's ridiculousness with their laughter.<BR/><BR/>I think you've been rather nice to him under the circumstances.Space Barhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08251329008160756254noreply@blogger.com