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Holy Cow! Shashi Tharoor’s Twitter Flying Cattle Class Controversy

By Shanky Baba ⋅ September 17, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment
FlyingCow

The Flying Cattle

Currently the ruling congress party in India is under a austerity drive in the event of drought and tough economic conditions. To  set an example it has asked the ministers and other government official to cut down the expenses. One of the measure taken is to fly economy class rather than business class.

So the controversy started with the below tweet from @KanchanGupta currently associate editor of The Pioneer:

KanchanGupta_Tweet

Shashi Tharoor responded to the tweet:ShashiTharoor's Response

Does anyone finds controversy in this tweet? Yes, Indian media which loves to sensationalize everything made a big issue out of this. Even the ruling congress party publicly condemned Shashi’s statement for equating economy class as cattle class without even trying to understand the humor and sarcasm in the tweet. What surprises me is that the party didn’t even bothered to clarify the controversy from the minister before condemning his tweet.

For the ignorant, from Urban Dictionary one of the meaning of “Cattle Class” is:

2. Short for ‘cattle class‘ which pertains to flying economy class (or ‘coach’ in America) on a flight. It is called this mainly because many people are crammed into such a small space for an extended period of time and most of the time are treated like animals.

One example of a conversation:

A: Did you manage to get a business class ticket?
B: No space left. Have to fly cattle now *long exasperated sigh*

What followed after this whole drama was Shashi’s Tweet later on:

  1. learned belatedly of fuss over my tweet replying to journo’s query whether i wld travel to Kerala in “cattle class”. His phrase which i rptd about

  2. it’s a silly expression but means no disrespect to economy travellers, only to airlines for herding us in like cattle. Many have misunderstdabout

  3. i’m told it sounds worse in Malayalam, esp out of context. To those hurt by the belief that my repeating the phrase showed contempt: sorryabout

  4. 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 soabout

ShashiTharoor_Twitter

Let stop the controversy right here and try and educate the outdated politicians of India. It really time for India and specially its politicians and the media to change as a whole and appreciate humor in a better manner. May the better sense prevail!

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Discussion

View Comments for “Holy Cow! Shashi Tharoor’s Twitter Flying Cattle Class Controversy”

  • Pratima Sandeep
    Mr Shashi Tharoor – Is he a Square Peg in a Round Hole of Indian Politics

    1. Shashi Tharoor ( Minister of State, External Affairs) has been in the news more than he should be normally. And to top it all, he is in the news for reasons which are totally and tangentially divergent from his Charter of Duties. Now, that is sad, since he ought to have been getting media attention on account of his Portfolio – after all he has been entrusted with an extremely sensitive job related to the Foreign Relations of India.

    2. A man with a highly impressive educational, career, social and literary background, his resume also highlights that he has always been a man in too much of a hurry. And, at that, he has also been successful in reaching higher echelons and achieving dizzying heights in a relatively short period of time. And it is only natural that when one side-steps / over runs others, the person is bound to ruffle the feathers of some.

    3. So what do we have here. A darling of a section of the media at one time now under special scrutiny and rightly so. The likes of Pseudo News Readers / Anchors / Political Editors etc, etc, etc of the likes of NDTV, CNN IBN, Times Now, Headlines Today found a ready larger than life friend in him. Why? Here was a guy – Young, Handsome, Educated, Articulate, High on the Success Ladder and with an extremely impressive resume. “ Oh you know, he is from Stephens (from the Indian IVY League- just like us ); has studied abroad (just like us); look at his appointments in the UN; plays the Piano you know, may be the Violin also; knows his Single Malts and Pasta, is an authority on Wines; knows how to treat a Lady.” So a Saville Row clad man was hyped up by the Media as the future of India.

    4. One thing perhaps most missed was that his success was on foreign shores and in an environment which is diametrically opposite to the Indian Political scene. Nobody questioned or even thought to take a note of the fact or cared to probe deeply if the likes of Tharoor could ever be successful politically in India – unless of course he changed his ways. So we had Tharoor conducting himself on the Indian Political scene like he had conducted himself abroad / in the US. He should have undergone a sea-change mentally. The only thing he changed was to switch to a Kurta – Pyjama/ Lungi ensembles.

    5. Anyone would be aghast that a man of his intelligence and experience did not see the writing on the wall and continued to behave like a Student in a US University. I must confess that over 6 months ago, I had predicted what is happening now to my wife (no credit being sought at all). So we had a Square Peg in a Round Hole of Indian Politics. But Mr Shashi Tharoor, Minister of State External Affairs, don’t take it to heart. You can draw solace from the fact you perhaps did better than what Clinton would have done in case he had become the Prime Minister of India.

    6. Most disappointing are two facts and I hold these most against Mr Tharoor . First, this related to his stay in a 5* Star Hotel – claiming that he was paying for it; and his subsequent Tweets – the latter being unbelievably childish, reflect absolute lack of maturity ( personal and political), most insensitive & uncalled for display of brashness.

    7. Secondly, Mr Tharoor, you have been Castigated openly in the National and International Media by Mr Pranab Mukherjee; Lambasted by the most irritating human being on Earth Mr Manish Tiwari and severely reprimanded by Mrs Jayanthi Natarajan ( belongs to the HMV group). These three making such like statements in public about the Minister of External Affairs of India – What a shameful act. It is unbelievable that they show such scant respect for their Ministers even though if the latter are Rookies.

    8. How did you feel when you were reprimanded openly in the presence of your juniors by some erstwhile Boss. Have these open reprimands not degraded your respect and self esteem in the eyes of your Staff, your National & International Colleagues and the Indian Public. Do you not realize as to how shameful the whole thing is. What a shame that you have not resigned in protest. Any self respecting man would have – but then I suppose you are trying hard to become a true Indian politician.

    Welcome to Indian Politics.

    Pratima.
  • amitshanbhag
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