Monday, April 10, 2006

Democracy Minus Zero/No Limit

One of the biggest laughs at the just-concluded Kitab festival was for the response of the always-glib Shashi Tharoor to the question “Do you really think democracy can be imported or exported?” (Context: US intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq.)

Tharoor, smooth as a baby’s bottom, goes: “I agree that Democracy, like Love, has to come from within. But it’s certainly possible to provide the setting – the soft music, candlelight dinner and so forth – that might help encourage the process.”

Methinks his democracy is a red red rose-thorn.

5 comments:

  1. i was there on the first day, and i'd say quite dissapointed with mr.tharoor and the distasteful humour as an overture to his address, poor Diana and that slick i-have-another-lecture-to-give move earned him a lot of respect from us lesser mortals.
    Amit chaudhuri on the other hand was interesting with his "globalization is a narrative", "the rhetoric of plenty" and "english is edenic" spiel, contradictory but..what isn't? and a slight literary paranoia was apparent with his closeup antakshari metaphor.
    Nadeem came across as a very sensitive unassuming character.

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  2. Oh no, please do not condemn Tharoor so. Ive grown up admiring the man( anybody who has ever read any Newsweek shall tell you that he is a brilliant columnist.)

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  3. Madhur: I thought Nadeem was really good too - especially during the globalisation discussion where, despite being sandwiched between much more articulate speakers (Tharoor and Rana), he made the most impact, with the "circle" analogy.

    Aaki: not "condemning" Tharoor, just having a little fun. He actually said a few other things that were quite interesting.

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  4. Madhur is quite unfair. Shashi Tharoor was very gracious in explaining why he had to leave -- the panel began more than an hour late and he was supposed to be addressing an audience at another venue at 1 (I was there, it was on "Democracy and Development" and it was standing room only). He still stayed to listen to all the other panellists and even answer a question before leaving. Why do we have to bring down our best like this?

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  5. Madhur is being quite unfair. Shashi Tharoor graciously explained why he had to leave -- the Kitab panel began more than an hour late, and he was scheduled to address another gathering at a different venue. I was there: it was on "Democracy and Development", and there was standing room only. He still listened to all his fellow panellists and answered a question too before leaving. Why do we have to be so petty about our best and brightest?

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