A Date with an Indian Minister of State…

7 Nov

It is not everyday in the “Aam Aadmi” ‘s life that one gets to meet a Minister of State. And that too not in a setting where we not only get to hear him talk but interact with him. And then definitely not someone as charismatic as Shashi Tharoor.

Well I have been a fan since my college days when I first chanced upon The Great Indian Novel and then on Twitter and there was no way I was going to give up on this chance to meet him in person. So according to the invite I turned up at the Bangalore International Centre on the 6th of November along with @vaid and @faiqrg. Thanks so much to @dhempe, @santhoshp, @tinucherian and @23jacob.

We were well in time and were pleasantly surprised when when we got a seat inside the audi without even a cursory security pat, such was the informal atmosphere. Stuck in the famous Bangalore traffic, Shashi Tharoor arrived by 3:30 PM and finally at 3:45 PM the doors were closed and the tweetup began.


Shashi Tharoor taking questions from the audience in the Bangalore Tweetup...

Shashi Tharoor taking questions from the audience in the Bangalore Tweetup...


After as short and witty introduction the floor was thrown open and the questions began pouring in. Right from how he got tweeting, defending twitter to the media and other politicians and many many more, ending with a short anecdote of how twitter generated help for a young girl from his constituency in Thiruvananthapuram who lost both her legs in an accident. When asked about why he does not write anymore, he said that he does but in 140 characters and on twitter. He said that he  misses writing and yeah, so do we 🙁

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/RxcYRIECdbI" width="425" height="344" allowfullscreen="true" fvars="fs=1" /]


Before we knew, it was already 4:30 PM and the minister had to leave for Mysore where he was supposed to speak at the TED India Conference the next day but we had just not had enough. After a group photo and a couple of autographs on books, the white Toyota Corolla with red hooter sped on it’s way to Mysore and I started back on my way home, contented but wanting more…


Other Blogs and Articles