As he himself illustrates in the introductory note to his new book, “The Battle of Belongings”, despite being born in London and thereby being qualified for a British Passport by birth, he was so Indian that he willingly paid three times the charge of a passport, for an entry permit to the UK, just to exercise his sovereignty to continue being Indian. That is Dr. Shashi Tharoor.  A man of incorruptible nationalism is what Dr. Tharoor invariably was, at all times.

 

He was educated in India and the US and has multiple doctorates on his crown. I have read in legitimate sources that he was the youngest individual at the age of 22 years, to earn a doctorate at the US Fletcher School. He started his UN career in the late 1970s and went on to contend for the post of the coveted Secretary General in 2006. He received one veto from the US who apparently “did not want another strict Kofi Annan”. He quit the scene graciously and rejected the offer from the elected Ban Ki-Moon to linger on a protracted term as the Under Secretary General.

 

After coming back to India he joined the Indian National Congress and became the Member of the Parliament (Lok Sabha) a record three times in succession since 2009 and is still the serving MP of Thiruvananthapuram Constituency, Kerala State, India. In the ruling Delhi, he is respected by almost everyone irrespective of political party. As the MP in Thiruvananthapuram, he was instrumental in establishing the Maldives Consulate and the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram apart from his various innumerable achievements. During the term of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Dr. Tharoor was made the Minister of State for External Affairs.

 

He is the best orator in post-colonial India. His speeches were an instant hit amongst the educated lot in India and many of the words that he used in his speeches and in his tweets were the most searched-for words on Google, a record number of times. I have viewed a lot of his speeches and interviews on YouTube and was always stupefied by the man’s intellect and expanse of knowledge. His exchanges with Mehdi Hassan on Al Jazeera TV are always my favourites. To be honest, I should state that I have started following Mehdi Hassan’s tweets only after listening to those conversations.  His stand-up comedy event on Amazon Prime's One Mic Stand is still a chartbuster and something which I have seen more than (at least) twenty-five times.

 

The best of his speeches on an international platform which later became the seed for a full-fledged book was the one he made in Oxford. It was a wonder to watch a qualified and intelligent Indian, calling for atonement from Britain, standing on British soil, encircled by a thousand Brits. The speech was so eloquent that Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised him for it. He is an expert on British Colonialism and how it upset the once-wealthy country called India, which in his words, contributed 24% to the world’s GDP before the British onslaught.

 

He is the author of 23 books that include fiction and non-fiction and has authored countless articles in various publications throughout India and abroad. The book “Era of Darkness” as it was named in India and “The Inglorious Empire” as it was named in the UK, was kind of a big-time bestseller all over the world - quite amusingly in Britain as well. In my opinion, that one book should be made part of the syllabus for any student in Britain (and the world) studying World History and/or English Literature. This is specially relevant in the context that the current generation in Britain grows up not knowing anything about what their forefathers did to the world. His considerable investigation and extensive reading on the topic and his exquisite touches of sarcasm make the book a delight to repeatedly read.

 

The best of his short stories is “Death of a Schoolmaster” which is one of the stories in the compilation, “The Five Dollar Smile”. I am yet to read many of his books, the next I have scheduled for myself are the classics, “Why am I a Hindu” and “The Hindu Way” – so that I can understand the complexities of being a Hindu from a non-Hindutva, non-Sarvarkar perspective.

 

Let me wind up this brief narrative by copying a few lines from “The Era of Darkness”, here.....!!!

 

(Robert) Clive came to India in 1765 and returned two years later with an estimated worth of GBP 400,000. After accepting millions of Rupees in presents, levying an annual tribute, helping himself to any jewels that caught his fancy from the treasuries of those he had subjugated and reselling items in England at five times their price in India……….and the British had the gall to call him the “Clive of India” as if he belonged to the country when all he really did was to ensure that a good portion of the country belonged to him.

 

Dr. Tharoor, as we all know, has recently been defeated in the competition for the coveted post of the All India President of the Political Party he represents., the 135-year-old, the oldest party in India, thanks to his colleagues and fellow party-men who toiled day and night for him to not succeed. I am an aficionado of no political party, but I wish Dr. Tharoor gets to the top in whatever he lays his hands on, for he is a rare blend of character, loyalty and wisdom with a forthright vision for the country. A true genius in every sense of the word, he continues to amaze every educated Indian irrespective of political inclinations, with his wealth of knowledge, approaches, and grit. As I read in a facebook post about him, he works 18 hours a day, responds to e-mails sent to him, writes books, travels across the globe to deliver speeches, is an impeccable parliamentarian, and still finds time to rub shoulders with the common man. He is one supernatural of a human being. Indeed, he is.

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I wish Dr. Tharoor all the very best, all throughout his life and thank him for inspiring millions, like me. 

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Jai Hind.​

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Dr. Anoop Prathapan

anoop.prathapan@gmail.com