I hate to do this again, but the whole nation is on a debate left, right and center about a casual joke of Dr. Shashi Tharoor. I don't intend an autopsy on the ongoing fiddle-faddle but I can't help registering the utterly ridiculous deluge of gibberish from our self-proclaimed common-man's representatives.
Tharoor himself has acknowledged the political incorrectness of his pun and accepted the momentary lack of acumen to give his antagonists a potent weapon to hit him back. And he has said "sorry"!
But some people just don't want to let go.. Especially the ones who are green eyed at the high-speed elevator Dr. Tharoor took to reach the ranks, his closeness with the High-Command, his remarkable ability to hog the spotlight oh him and who're dazed by his flair, finesse and rising popularity among the country's youth.
So what do they do? Roll out a teething attack all in the name of a 71-word joke! Make no mistake here, its Congress leading the official attack on Tharoor, with BJP and the lefties yet to catch up.
First of all our Hindi media dudes committed the first purposeful misdeed of translating a perfectly tolerable slang into Hindi, which immediately erased the humour element and turned it into blasphemy! Instantly lands Mrs. Jayanthi Natarajan, claiming to a Congress spokesperson, who clamours over the 'insensitive' nature of that tweet.
Congress elements are claiming that they are forced to speak out on this Twitter issue because the National Media has made a mountain out this mole. True in a sense; but how did the party handle this, especially at a crucial point when Assembly Elections are approaching? Every Tom, Dick and Harry has voiced their alarm at the insult delivered to common travelling public, and even Kerala ex-CM Oomen Chandy voices his displeasure saying that public figures should be compassionate. After Jayanthi Natarajan it was the turn of Rajasthan CM and senior Congressman Ashok Gehlot to make matters worse by this public condemnation.
This, you must not forget, is when Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh has brushed aside this matter in the proper way, that this was a joke from Dr. Tharoor and nothing to ponder on.
Times of India columnist Mr. Jug Suraiya has depicted this in a facetious yet factual manner. Our traditional mail, the India Post is termed snail-mail. So can all the people who put a letter into our post-box called snails? And that the business class travellers are called "fat rats" as opposed to "cattle class", so now which one would you mind?
Shashi Tharoor has become the icon of hope for the citizens of Trivandrum as well as the whole nation. He has already acknowledged the situation and voiced that his priority would be the 400 million citizens of India living on just 1.25$ and less per day. In a short span of 3 months he has already started the ground work of strengthening the foundations for a sustained growth, viz the Rai Foundation scholarships for girls from lower economic strata and many more.
Sukumar Azhikode, an acclaimed critic and orator ridiculed the voters of Trivandrum as being "blind" and "foolish" for electing someone like Tharoor to New Delhi. In a stark paradox, IBN Live found out that the blind and foolish Trivandrumites could actually see the lighter side of the tweet which all the politicians failed to note. Perhaps the 3.4 magnitude earthquake which struck the city yesterday evening could help shake off some clog from the brains of these holier than thou souls craving for Tharoor's blood.
Now, take this Mr. Azhikode!
Trivandrum says LOL!
Click here if the video-link on top is not working.
A massive boo-hoo arrived from another Congressman and Waynad MP Mr. M.A. Shanavas who openly remarked on IndiaVision that Twitter, Email and all are Western concepts and we as Indians should discard them!! No comments on that, but it received more than enough clatter from Congress MP Mr. Sudhakaran, interestingly another rare politician who tweets regularly.
The best joke of all came from Mr. Tom Vadakkan, so-called AICC Media Secreatry . And by god, just listen to the great invention he has made about Twitter. He apparently did a research about Twitter when Times Now contacted him and this is what he 'found out' about the micro-blogging site. Hold on to your knickers pals... This one takes the cake!
Did you notice the shock that blogger Amit Varma (the guy in glasses beside Tom uncle) got listening live to the 'lonely man' stuff? Oh, its priceless! Watch 00:14 in the video..
Click for Full video of Times Now interview. Watch it, its worth it!
I did a bit of research myself about Mr. Vadkkan's interpretation of Twitter and its relation with loneliness, and sorry mates; I've come out blank. Perhaps this is the most plausible explanation I could think of: Twitter is meant for people who are very lonely and depressed and who doesn't have anything worthy to do. And according to Tom Vadakkan they need psychological counselling. Did you hear that Jack Dorsey?
Now isn't this an instance you truly want to scream STFU!! ?
Tailpiece: Think about it, this guy Vadakkan was under serious consideration as a contestant from Trichur for the recent Lok Sabha elections! Breathe a sigh of relief my old Trichur folks, that you're saved from colossal embarrassment of calling this dude your MP. God bless Trichur!
CongressMen in trichur wanted Tom as the Candidate and was fighting for it....
ReplyDeletei feel Trichur People are too lucky this time not to have him as their MP..
Well, it is true that Tharoor was forced to use the same word in his reply. But given the fact that he is holding a responsible position in the union ministry, he should not have used that word. And, the 'holy cow' remark was also not acceptable.
ReplyDeleteHey thanks for that vid of Vadakkan. ROFL, made my day!
ReplyDeletePeople translated Cattle class into their regional languages. Imagine if Slum dog was translated into malayalam or any other regional language. If it goes at this rate, the politicos would want to band hot dog as it is against culture to 'eat dogs'! or to call those food items as dogs.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all,Indians and Indian politics is very sensitive to such issues.We can go on discussing this but the fact remains that the Congress party has also relised the damage it could do.Manish Tiwari addressed the media and says the action will be taken at the right time.Let us not forget,in Congress nothing is stated without the perfect nod from the high command.
ReplyDeleteThank you for a very detailed compilation.
ReplyDeleteI was hearing the accounts in Hindi and Malayalam. It is so sad that people are using transliteration of "cattle-class" and it brings in a very negative effect.
As for Tom Vadakkan, he is right about the lonely man. But the lonely man is himself trying to catch up with technology and failing still!
@ RK, you said it. I just heard his name here and there before but now it etched in my heart, e-t-c-h-e-d! heheheheee :)))
ReplyDelete@ Sreejith, on high moral grounds it is not acceptable, but lets face it: we have worse ministers around, so lets spare poor old Tharoor for an honest slip of the tongue. ;)
@ Dreamer, this is what you call 5 seconds of fame!
@ Xylene, our Commie toilet paper Deshabhimani did translate hot dog very much literally last month and became the laughing stock of the nation. Didn't you hear? So this translation doesn't surprise me.
@ Chawlaji, your that last statement is a myth. Moily and some other spokesperson were removed from their posts after comments on Nitish Kumar just before the last elections. Remember? Jayanthi and Tiwari may have echoed sentiments of some of the senior leaders and the reason for some of these head-honchos disfavouring Tharoor is an open secret. So lets not read too much into that.
The PM has chuckled at this in the presence of Mrs.Gandhi, and her cub is also educated enough to see the quip as it is. Tharoor may get rapped on the knuckles, may be an admonition. But stripping him of his MEA post for cracking a wise wit will be too far fetched, I'm telling you.
@ Nona, I have doubts if someone deliberately pulled Vadakkan's leg. ;) The guy was speaking about getting a survey report about "tweets", I wonder if he searched the dictionary with some wrong spellings and ended up in this mess. Whatever, I just loved Amit Varma's reaction when he heard this lonely man joke.. Its revolutionary! :))
I guess people and politicians of India have identified and singled out the gravest issue the country is facing!
ReplyDeleteNow the best solution, instead of banning Tharoor would be, to ban Twitter. What say?
It seems Vadakkan is too lonely that he doesn't find anything else to hang on.
Cattle Shit!
Yes. I did get a forward on it. hilarious !
ReplyDeleteGood one! A matter that should simply have been dismissed as a joke (which th PM admirably did in the end). As somebody recently suggested, Congress missed a great opportunity to look different from the BJP.
ReplyDeleteWhat to say,our 'honourable' indian media is responsble for making this matter worse.They got a proper topic and they celbrated it for a week.
ReplyDeleteand apart from media , some local leaders,who were jealous about the rapid growth of Mr.tharoor also tried to gain some polical mileage from this 'issue'
@ Tom vadakan---it is the joke of the week.I wish i can ask him about his 'twitter definition',if i get a chance
between all this issue remind me about the title of spider mans tamil version came in surya TV....silandi mapilai....
I do not think the common man was even concerned. It was the politicians aided by the media that created the ruckus. Ultimately they got egg on their face, as the electorate is far more discerning now.
ReplyDelete@ Rocksea, lol..the man of the hour as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDelete@ Xylele, hahaaa its a scream isn't it? :D
@ Nitin, and they've openly exhibited that they're no different from any other political party..
@ Anish, wee that's at least a word to word translation. But Vadakkan?? Only he can tell us what he meant.. :P
@ Silverine, True. I'm very happy with the way people think about it as evident from Orkut and that IBN Live video.
AAhhh, so true dude.........
ReplyDeletethere are a thousand other problems that people can direct their energies too.... but I just cannot believe it that people from congress itself are critizing him for the comment.....
a mountain is being made out of nothing.... as simple as that.........
and you rightly mentioned about the positive steps that he has taken after going office.....
Tom Vadakkan looked like a lonely man who couldn't get a ticket after years of ahem...(should I use the word).
ReplyDeleteOther than common man and cattle everyone took offense. As they say 'Birds of a feather flock together.' I hope birds is better than cattle. :))
Have always switched channels when Tom started preaching.... dont know what the madam loves in him :)
ReplyDeleteas for Tharoor.. he has indeed created an earthquake among the Congress guards... am looking forward to see where it is leading and how Tharoor is going to handle it..
Hello
ReplyDeleteYes it is quite hilarious and by the way thank you for sharing all these video.Some times media is also playing a part in some issue.
h1n1