I don’t have an opinion on his politics or his personal life, but sweet holy sherbet, Shashi Tharoor is an absolute delight to read. He writes as he speaks (as he himself admits), and it is impossible to read him without hearing in the mind’s ear his smooth, mildly accented voice. Yes, that’s it. He is the writer’s Morgan Freeman!
(In an interview, he says he writes as he speaks and it is hard to disagree; Salman Rushdie meanwhile claims he doesn’t speak as he writes, and it is hard to disagree with him too. Which proves it is perfectly all right to respond to a joke with Laul, but you don’t have to write LOL).
Dr. Tharoor (it just feels wrong to call him Shashi, as though I’ve just had breakfast with him, and the ponderous Mr. Tharoor is trying to be respectful and casual and ending up being neither) has been prolific with his non-fiction work, but sadly this has come at the cost of a sparse fiction output.
Among the few, The Great Indian Novel will remain one of my favourite books, and the one I will routinely recommend to all. Even if they have read it. And if they resist too much, I will just ship them a gift copy.
Of course, as much as Dr. Tharoor’s writing sizzles in all aspects of wit, wisdom, and wonder, I think he is more than partially responsible for erecting a veneer of inscrutability around his work. (Yes, I know… but I am talking about Shashi Tharoor, and if that last sentence itself was too much, how are you going to manage the Great Indian Novel — what! you haven’t read it yet?) His most recent release, Tharoorasaurus is a book about his favourite ‘big words’ that makes the little blue bird dizzy. (If I may digress — there are small words just as abstruse; for instance, dap; and how a word can be ‘difficult’ is hard to understand — it isn’t a tantrum throwing toddler.) And he has happily contributed to creating the image of a big word user — see, wouldn’t it be nice if there was one word that could elegantly capture that? So then, how to approach this scary wordsmith?
A wonderful introduction to Dr. Tharoor’s writing is his collection of essays, Bookless in Baghdad. As someone who is perpetually in awe of Salman Rushdie, my favourite chapters are: Salman Rushdie, the Ground beneath his feet, and Rushdie’s Reappearance. It is in the former that Dr. Tharoor says he (SR) ‘is at the head of his profession.’ That is akin to Messi saying that about Ronaldo (or vice-versa, although there is no who is the GOAT debate involving ST and SR — but you get my point).
I dip into Bookless in Baghdad often, nibble on chapters, soak in the sheer joy of the language, and marvel at the breadth of topics he covers. It is a great sampler and I can’t urge you enough to call up a bookstore and ask them for it, before ordering the main Great Indian course.
And, oh what joy, there is a lovely chapter on the Great Indian Novel itself.
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