‘Rasgulla is nothing but idli dipped in sugar syrup’: Shashi Tharoor reacts to viral social media post

A social media post comparing Rasgulla to an idli dipped in sugar syrup has gone viral. It triggered a sharp and eloquent response from Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. The exchange has been widely shared and celebrated online.

It began when a social media user, Sayantika, posted about Misti Doi and Nolen Gurer Rosogolla on 15 May. She wondered how to explain the taste of these sweets to someone who wasn't Bengali.

A user named @crazyxedi replied by quoting her post. The user called Rasgulla "nothing but an idli dipped in sugar syrup." The Mumbai Indians fan also called it the "most overrated dessert". The post quickly gathered over 2,50,000 views.

Another user, Kanika, spotted the comment and issued a lighthearted warning. She said, if Shashi Tharoor found out about the statement, he should "get ready for an eloquent linguistic assassination". The warning proved accurate.

Tharoor responded the following day. He called the comparison not just a culinary error but a "profound cosmological misunderstanding".

The Kerala MP explained the difference. Rasgulla is made from chhena, a delicate milk curd. Idlis are made from a fermented batter of parboiled rice and black gram. Their compositions belong to entirely different kingdoms.

One is an airy, spongy structure designed to absorb light sugar syrup. The other is a dense, steamed matrix of complex carbohydrates and proteins. He said they share nothing in common in taste, texture, structure or purpose.

Tharoor then turned his attention to the Idli itself. According to him, dismissing it as a blank canvas for sugar syrup was deeply unfair. He called the Idli "a masterclass in biotechnology".

Making a perfect Idli, according to Tharoor, requires balancing wild fermentation microflora over a cold night. The result is a steamed cloud that represents a triumph of gut health and nutritional balance.

It is a “savoury monolith of South Indian culinary genius, perfectly engineered to absorb the sharp tang of a well-spiced sambar or the fiery depth of a molaga-podi (gunpowder) paste infused with cold-pressed sesame oil or nutritious melted ghee”, Shashi Tharoor wrote on X.

He added that suggesting an Idli would "consent to being drowned in sugar syrup" fundamentally misunderstood its dignity.

He concluded with a pointed but polite instruction. According to the politician, if someone finds Rasgullas overrated, they should argue that on its own merits. But, the Idli, he insisted, should be left out of dessert-table arguments entirely.

"Leave the noble, perfectly fermented, steamed majesty of the Idli out of your dessert-table polemics, ma'am!" he wrote.

Social Media Reaction

“The Sun turned to grass. Grass turned to milk. Milk turned into rasgulla. The Sun also turned to paddy and urad. Paddy and urad turned into idlis. And consciousness, having become both, now sits in argument — debating which is superior,” wrote a social media user.

“How about holding an Idli fest? We would love to taste your idlis! I watched a video where you claimed to make idlis for the entire week and store them in the freezer (during your days in the U.S!” posted another user.

One user quipped, “I think ChatGPT takes notes from you, sir.”

“As always, Mr Tharoor never fails to disappoint. My daily dose of English is not complete. Word of the day - Polemics,” came from another.