One is known for his lucidity and the other for his penchant for rarely used, difficult-to-pronounce English words. And when the two authors met, not surprisingly, there had to be a cheerful banter over the language itself. On Sunday, Congress MP and author Shashi Tharoor and writer Chetan Bhagat had a lively exchange on Twitter after their meeting at an event.
On Saturday, sharing a photo of the two of them together, Bhagat wrote, “India has two kinds of English. 1) The Shashi Tharoor English. 2) The Chetan Bhagat English.”
Tharoor being witty as always, responded on Sunday, saying, “it was a pleasure catching up” with him. He added, “Now how would you say that in Chetan Bhagat English?”
This is not the first the duo engaged in a Twitter exchange. In 2020, praising an article written by Bhagat for a national daily the Thiruvananthapuram MP had tweeted, "Superb piece by Chetan Bhagat on all that ails our country and what we should do about it. Chetan's great virtue is the simplicity and directness of his writing. His message is clear and I hope his fans in the government act on it."
{{/usCountry}}This is not the first the duo engaged in a Twitter exchange. In 2020, praising an article written by Bhagat for a national daily the Thiruvananthapuram MP had tweeted, "Superb piece by Chetan Bhagat on all that ails our country and what we should do about it. Chetan's great virtue is the simplicity and directness of his writing. His message is clear and I hope his fans in the government act on it."
{{/usCountry}}Seeing Tharoor's tweet, Bhagat was over the moon. He then requested Tharoor for more praise.
"Ok I still can't get over this. The Shashi Tharoor has praised Chetan Bhagat. I am floating. Just one request sir, next time can you use some big words to praise me, like ones that only you can do. Superb is nice but a big one would really make my day!" Bhagat wrote.
Tharoor obliged Bhagat with "some big words".
"Sure, @chetan_bhagat! It's clear you are not sesquipedalian nor given to rodomontade. Your ideas are unembellished with tortuous convolutions & expressed without ostentation. I appreciate the limpid perspicacity of today's column."