Thiruvananthapuram: Extremely articulate Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, whose wicked taunts can often have a grammar Nazi in hysterics and frantically hunting for the dictionary, was for once at the receiving end.The folly was entirely his own: the Thiruvananthapuram MP misspelled “Ahmedabad” and referred to it as a part “North India”.
The post in question was about a seemingly innocuous subject — an Ahmedabad-based restaurant opening an outlet in Kochi. But it went viral after people realised that the word “Appiitto” — the name of the restaurant — translated into, “Did you poop,” in Malayalam.
Commenting on the usage, Tharoor tweeted a photo of the restaurant’s board that was being shared on social media, and said that the incident was proof of the ignorance of ‘North Indians’ when it came to the Southern states.”The hilarious consequences of most North Indians’ ignorance of Southern languages! Popular restaurant chain in Ahmadabad recently opened its outlet in Kochi. But the hotel is struggling to find patrons.
If they asked a Malayalam-speaker, they would understand why!” the MP wrote. Detractors pointed out to Tharoor that even he ought to know that Gujarat is in western India and his reference to ‘North Indians’ is as jocular as the name of the restaurant.
Sure, the restaurant owner should have consulted a couple of Malayalis before naming his restaurant, but a senior politician should also know his country like back of his hand. And even if he does not, he ought to look at the map and get his sense of direction right.
If that were not enough for a day, an alert Twitterati also pointed out that Tharoor had spelled Ahmedabad with an ‘a’ instead of an ‘e’. Possibly, he confused it with Allahabad. But the politician seems to have his supporters in both the ‘North’ and the ‘South.’ Some of them fervently made out a case that Tharoor had made the errors intentionally, just for the heck of it!
