An old interview video of Shashi Tharoor and Sudha Murty went viral on social media. If you have read Sudha Murty’s books, you would know that she mesmerizes readers with her simple and engaging writing style. This is what makes his deep portrayal of characters and storytelling ability astonish everyone with her stories.
In the viral interview video, Shashi Tharoor speaks to Sudha Murty complaining about her dictionary. ‘You know that Saraswati is also the goddess of dictionaries. What have you got against dictionaries?’ She said, When I write, actually, I realize one thing. People speak English in India. But 50-60% of people speak colloquial English. They would need a dictionary to read and understand books by Tharoor and others who write complex words. Sudha Murty has ever expressed her opinion against the dictionary, and her opinion was quite surprising to Shashi Tharoor.
Sudha Murty has been a teacher, writer, and social worker. So when Tharoor asked her if she felt she had ignited her creative spark in thousands of other children, Murthy explained how good she felt when children who read her books recognized her in public places like airports. Pointing to one of her former students, he recalled how her computer science students remembered the stories she told in his class, but not the topics.
Shashi Tharoor is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat, politician, renowned author, and public intellectual who has served as a member of the Indian National Congress. A Sahitya Akademi Award winner, Tharoor has written several works of fiction and non-fiction since 1981. Popular for his command of the English language, Tharoor was the most followed Indian on Twitter before being overtaken by Narendra Modi.
After watching the viral interview video, users shared many appreciative comments. One user writes, ‘So true ma’am that’s the whole point of a language as it’s just a medium of communication unfortunately in our country it’s used to downgrade others.’
Another user writes, ‘English is just a language, not a parameter to measure intelligence.’
