The Elephant, the Tiger, the Cellphone and the Visionary

Amidst a lot of media hype, firing by the opposition, and public outrage Shashi Tharoor handed his resignation to the Prime Minister on Sunday night, ending the short stint of 11 months. The startling headline on Times of India next day read "OUT: Tharoor exits MEA, Sunanda Kochi". I see three aspects here.

The media
Media reports said PM had enough from the tweeting minister. Dr Tharoor has repeatedly been in media reports, mostly because of the controversial nature of his tweets, which allegedly, didn't comply very well with sentiments of the Indian people.
Media also burst on him, during the initial days of his career, focusing on his stay in the luxurious hotels, where all the news channels showed us the videos of the costly hotel exteriors and in 72 size font, displayed the rent of his room. Dr Tharoor while making his way to his vehicle, mobbed by media, answered that he is paying the hotel out of his OWN POCKET and was staying there because of delay in construction work at his ministerial residence.
Media has reported several times about his previous failed marriages and a lot of his remarks, the most popular one being the answer to "cattle class" question asked by one of his followers on twitter.
So many accusations have been thrust on him that the list of them probably deserves a separate spot.

Counter Media
A free press is one of the pillars of democracy. An irresponsible press, on the other hand, is a doom. I ask these questions to all the "so called" responsible and aware citizens of country and narrow-minded audience of the TV Media.
1. While introducing Tharoor to people, why do the TV media never talk about the relief work he has done in Palestine, in Saudi Arabia and for Red Cross in Geneva.
2. Shashi Tharoor is the author of many books which focus on lives of Indian People, what makes them unique and what are their strong points. While creating all the hype around cattle class remarks (which was intending as a joke) why did the media not talk about his work and his description of the pride he took in being an Indian, returning to India as a politician after his glorious career in the UNO. Why did the media never address the possibility that, as alleged, If Indian Commoners were cattle to him, why would he have ever returned to the country?
3. While reporting his stay in luxurious hotels, the flashing calculation of rent of the hotel multiplied by the duration of his stay occupied about 20% of the time. Why did the media not acknowledge and address the fact that he was paying it by his own pocket?
4. Media was apt to criticize him when he remarked about Gandhi Jayanti, that people should be working rather than staying at home taking a holiday, thereby paying real homage to Mahatma Gandhi. Why did the media, not take it in right spirit by looking at the other side of the coin. A responsible media is expected to be neutral in its way of reporting, rather than taking about public interest.
5. After being inaccurately accused of criticizing Gandhi and Nehru, when Tharoor posted his explanation on his official website, why was there not a single report covering his response?(Compare that to the outrage on Cattle class comment, which was a few words of response to a question asked by his follower, and above all was intended as a joke).
6. When Tharoor criticized the new visa guidelines adopted by the Indian Government in the wake of the gaps exposed by the arrest of 26/11 terror suspects, David Headley and Tahawwur Rana, why was it that his calling the shots attracted more attention than the content of the shots themselves. Why did the media not focus on “the shortcomings” that he wanted to really talk about?
7. For each and every accusation related to Kochi franchise that he was accused of, he had an explanation for them, on his official website. (Please take your time to read his defense so that it is easy for you to understand me) While repeating the story of his links with Sunanda Pushkar millions of times, why did the Media, not for once, not even a single channel, tried to brief out his explanation to the audience?
If one writes a hoax and tag it with following words:
1. Indian Minister
2. His love interest
3. Cricket
4. Money
5. IPL
It is guaranteed to be a best seller. And will draw Ill criticism from every section of the democracy- Government, Public and Opposition, nobody cares what you spice up, as long as you spice it well. Heck, Katarina was dragged into controversy for being in a relationship with Siddharth Mallya based only on the fact that she used to cheer RCB with him in Pavillion.
Such is the shameful face of Indian media. And such, is unfortunately, the fate of a country corrupted to its core, that people have no sense of judgment for their leaders.
While defending himself against the Nehru/Gandhi controversy, Tharoor said, "Irresponsible reporting may briefly gratify a few sensation-seekers in the media, but they do no credit to the need for informed discussion of foreign policy issues in our democracy. India deserves better. So, frankly, do I."

Shashi Tharoor
I have read all the books by Shashi Tharoor except,” The Great Indian Novel”, which I have bought today, and plan to finish in a few weeks. I also wrote a blog post on his book 'The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cellphone'.
All I keep thinking while reading him is -the guy has stayed outside this country for a large part of his life, but still he knows more about its problems, in an exhaustive way, and has a vision to solve them, that I can never dream about in my lifetime. Lesser people keep talking about corruption, population, brain drain and stuff, but this former UN diplomat is the guy who thinks ahead of his time and writes about addressing these problems.
This Anachronism occurs in every society. Galileo was hanged to death for claiming that earth revolves around the sun and not the other way. Dr Tharoor, in his fight for upbringing of the country, has fallen prey to the very corruption in the system that he was fighting against. It is a sad day for Indian Politics, marking a sad exit of an excellent leadership, leaving the ill fated Indian Politics in its own comfort zone, where only suck up leaders or the Nehru/Gandhi family can survive. As I write this post, Lalit Modi is being labeled as the next Media Villain in all this hype and drama.
I will not point out to my villain explicitly, use your head.

Prince of Persia - The two thrones