It all started with a poor pun in a tweet by Shashi Tharoor about cattle class and holy cows, in the wake of announcements regarding austerity measures promulgated by Pranab Mukherjee, that advised MPs to travel by economy class. I don't follow Shashi Tharoor on twitter and I couldn't find the original tweet - guess he deleted it, but what I gathered this evening was that in response to a journalist's query on twitter, on whether he would be traveling "cattle class" on his next trip to Kerala, Shashi Tharoor had tweeted something like -
Of course! in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows
Silly comment, that. Cattle / holy cow ... I didn't even find it funny, really (though I think my title for this post is hilarious - c'mon, admit it). I wouldn't make that comment if I were him. What was he thinking? That twitter is some exclusive club where nobody other than the cyberati elite get to know what one says? Silly comment, but also sarcastic in a very tongue-in-cheek way. Again, what was he thinking? That nobody in his audience (174,824 followers in Twitter at the time of writing this post) could get what he really meant?
Apparently someone found his seemingly opprobrious tweet (surprise! surprise!) and showed it to his bosses in the Congress Party, who promptly threw a fit. Ah the holier-than-thou Congress! Their outraged outcry was that this was a contemptible contumely. Why? Because it was egregious to economy class passengers. Silly, again, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the smarter ones in the Congress got what he really meant. And I think that's what pissed them off and had them frothing at their collective mouth as they called it out as unacceptable, across the media.
More news coverage, more TV discussions, more interviews, more panels, more expert opinions, more silliness followed (and I think there'll be even more B.S. about this over the weekend). Several personalities - politicians and journalists alike, unabashedly exposed their abysmal ignorance on a whole bunch of topics, including, of course, twitter / blogging / social media.
Then came the apologies and clarifications about the 'misunderstanding' (and of course, deletion of the terrible tweet that triggered this avalanche of silliness). In a subsequent tweet, Shashi Tharoor admitted it was a silly expression (and I am reproducing here below the tweets that followed, just in case they magically disappear by the time you read this post and click on the links to the respective tweets).
it's a silly expression but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstd
A feeble attempt at back-pedaling, I'd say. And again, this is different from tweeting, for example, something like "it was silly of me to have tweeted that". Anyway. This was followed by :
i now realize i shldnt assume people will appreciate humour. &u shouldn't give those who wld wilfully distort yr words an opportnty to do so
Oh? NOW he realized that. And also that there are 'those' humorless people out there, waiting and watching, who'd grab any opportunity to distort his words. Tsk Tsk. Politics I tell you! Full of such evil people. Wish we'd known this before.
And then there was this edifying tweet - a gem of a clarification, presumably in response to a tweet from someone else:
@dilnawazpasha holy cows are NOT individuals but sacrosanct issues or principles that no one dares challenge. Wish critics wld look it up
Aha! Is that right, Mr Tharoor? So you're dealing with people who don't know the language, huh? OK. Let's do some nit-picking then. First of all, the mot juste is "sacred cow", if you meant "sacrosanct issues or principles that no one dares challenge". Secondly, the expression "holy cow" (actually, "Holy Cow!") signifies something else, FYI. True, sometimes people use it in the same sense as "sacred cow", but YOU can't get away with that - you, who are so good with words. And lastly, the word "solidarity" is meant to be used with respect to individuals, yes, individuals, and not ideas or issues or principles. One doesn't do things out of solidarity with an issue or principle: one does things out of solidarity with individuals that one identifies with or supports, such as one's colleagues or team members. "Wish U wld look it up" back at ya - the whole lot: sacred cow, holy cow, solidarity. Oh but what am I saying .. you know this stuff ... you were just trying to find an escape hatch. Sorry, didn't mean to sound so patronizing about your command over the language.
So then, Mr Tharoor, when you said "... out of solidarity with all our holy cows" in your own subtle sarcastic polished and oh-so-classy tongue-in-cheek style, who, really, were you expressing your so-called "solidarity" with? Mr Pranab Mukherjee? Heh. No wonder your party colleagues are so pissed off with you - you were poking fun at their austerity drive! They got it too, but they wouldn't call it out. How could they? We don't slaughter sacred cows in this country. So here's a word (or two) of advice from a well-meaning fella: Careful who you have a beef with. Do not yield to the temptation to rib, delicious as it may appear, for someone or other will have a bone to pick with you, and you have a lot at stake.
Good luck and have a nice weekend!
