Shashi Tharoor

Strongly recommend the exhibition “Equus” of works by Kannadiga artist M. Narayan at Delhi’s Bikaner House. If you like racehorses, there are plenty here — in colour, monochrome, with jockeys and without, in perpetual motion…. My fondness is for his more vivid works from a sojourn in Kerala.

At St Teresa’s College, Kochi, yesterday, i obliged student union members with a photograph. If turned out the girl in glasses on my right had been a toddler in my arms a dozen years ago! One way of measuring the passage of years….

#RamadanMubarak2025

Ah I love India! A Keralite playing for Vidarbha is dismissed by a Vidarbhaite playing for Kerala, stumped by wicket-keeper whose district nearly went to Karnataka.... and we are all one, united in celebration of what we all have in common, rather than what divides us. Jai Hind! 🇮🇳
#RanjiTrophyFinal

Theres more about what the official numbers conceal:

Dismayed to see that the Kerala start-up entrepreneurship story is not what’s been reported. The only silver lining is that at least the GoK’s claims point to the right intentions. We need more MSME start-ups — and not just on paper. Kerala must head this way!

March 1st - Wishing Thiru @mkstalin.bsky.social a wonderful birthday today and a splendid year ahead!

A good meeting of INC Kerala leaders today with INC India president Kharge Ji, @rahulgandhi.bsky.social and GenSec Deepa Dasmunsi ended in a strong affirmation of party unity as we head into the election season.

A wonderful profile of Kerala’s (and Thiruvananthapuram’s) latest cricket sensation, 19 year old Eden Apple Tom, by SandipG in the @indianexpress.com

Our democracy cannot do without a free press. As a convinced democrat, I will never call for greater regulation or controls on the media. But is it completely futile to hope for better standards of journalism in our country? Not less journalism — just better journalism?

I write this thread in sorrow, not in anger. You cannot blame anyone for being themselves. This is sadly what our journalistic culture has become: scant regard for accuracy or veracity, lust for clickbait headlines, breathless obsession with the speculative and the trivial.

I have long been a faithful reader of the
@indianexpress.com, which has a remarkable history and still has the best op-ed pages in the Indian media. But this episode has merely added to my profound scepticism about Indian journalism altogether, which has again maintained its utter unreliability.

Except for the crucial detail that the entire story was baseless, and the spin given to my words was clearly neither what i had said nor the intended meaning of what i did say!!

Some people woke up to issues they had been complacent about and others found reasons to vent their feelings. Suddenly my place in Indian politics was being discussed — in a few cases enlighteningly and with insight.
All of this has been hugely instructive and eye-opening for me.

While this kerfuffle might blow over, it has brought a lot of issues out into the open. I suddenly discovered what a lot of people really thought of me and learned from others’ speculations about options that i hadn’t ever considered exercising.

The voice of reason, the voice of the future: Why Shashi Tharoor matters He is one of the rare politicians who does not pander to slogans, does not promise what he cannot deliver, and does not play the games of lesser men.

I am yet to receive an apology from anyone involved.

But some good has come out of all this….

aninews.in/news/enterta...

m.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ6n...

youtube.com/live/Mpk7luS...

x.com/thewire_in/s...

What protection does a public figure have against such flagrantly irresponsible journalism? The
@indianexpress.com got a huge amount of attention to its podcast and the media got days of headlines — but no one spares a thought for the days of abuse, insult, calumny that came my way.

4/4 When I challenged this claim, I was provided an English “translation” of my Malayalam interview in which I had allegedly said this. When the video emerged yesterday, it was clear that I had said no such thing. A correction has now been belatedly issued — after all the damage has been done.

3/4 Second, the Express ran a fake news story claiming i had decried the absence of a leader in
@inckerala.bsky.social. This resulted in a front page story in @thehindu.com and other media and triggered three days of discussions on Kerala’s television channels.

2/4 First, they took an innocuous statement (I said i had multiple options to spend my time in literary pursuits) and made a headline out of it in English that implied i was exploring other political options.

A rather important thread that i hope will be read in our country’s journalism schools:

The last few days have offered an object lesson in how the news is “made“. @indianexpress.com wanted to draw attention to their new Malayalam podcast, so they did two somewhat shameless things.

Delighted to receive the first copy of Ravi Garimella‘s new book of “musings” on 'Indian Parliament and Democratic Polity'. He is a close aide to Rajya Sabha LoP Kharge Ji and in-house expert nonpareil on how Parliament works. So pleased he has shared his wisdom with the world in this new volume.

Convert Wayanad landslide relief amount from loan to grant, Priyanka Gandhi writes to PM Modi The Wayanad MP also called the amount of Rs 529.5 crore “inadequate”.

Strongly support the request from @priyankagandhi.bsky.social to convert the government’s Wayanad landslide relief from a loan to a grant, and to extend the deadline to spend it:

indianexpress.com/article/indi...

The victims of Kerala’s worst disaster deserve no less!

Good to exchange words with Jonathan Reynolds, Britain’s Secretary of State for Business and Trade, in the company of his Indian counterpart, Commerce & Industry Minister ⁦Piyush Goyal. The long-stalled FTA negotiations have been revived, which is most welcome

Good to see this. Economic development should, as far as possible, be above the petty divisions of party politics.

Rohit, Virat, and the boys, you don’t need my advice, but you have my wishes. And the love of a billion people cheering you on. Let’s do this again!

The #ChampionsTrophy2025 began yesterday with a resounding win! Like many of you, I’m still riding the high of our last ICC trophy. Let’s keep that momentum going and bring this one home too!

My message to the #boysinblue : instagram.com/reel/DGSc_mW...

YouTube video by Jaipur Literature Festival Shashi Tharoor: Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani | Shashi Tharoor in conversation with Vir Sanghvi

My session at the Jaipur Lit Fest this month: @drshashitharoor.bsky.social in conversation with @virsanghvi.bsky.social

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLuA...

One more case on Feb 19 from Thiruvananthapuram. Appalling. Evil clearly lurks not far from the surface of our society. The challenge for responsible adults is to stamp it out and also to instil the behavioural standards that alone will guarantee the survival and progress of our civilisation.

And one question he doesn’t ask: how widespread is such conduct? If it could happen in one college, can the evil be truly absent everywhere else? Sometimes i despair at such signs of inhumanity spreading across our beloved land.