There was a surprising chief guest at the launch of psychoanalyst and author Sudhir Kakars novel The Crimson Throne on Friday Shashi Tharoor. Surprising,because the Congress MP seemed to have disappeared from Delhis social circuit after he resigned as minister of state for external affairs in April following the Kochi IPL controversy. But on Friday,he was at French ambassador Jerome Bonnafonts house in Chanakyapuri,clad in an immaculate kurta and a dapper black Nehru jacket,smiling an unseeing,beatific,godlike smile. While releasing the book,Tharoor launched into a paean. The book,he said (his inflections dramatically rising and then falling to gravelley sincere depths),sensually unfolded through the points-of-views of the French and Italian travellers and was a fascinating series of interlocking perspectives,related with the talent of a stylist and an engaging storyteller,and the acuity of a psychoanalyst. Tharoors speech was enlivened by bouts of playfulness,as his 823,838 Twitter followers will be pleased to hear. When a flourishy ringtone rang out during his introduction,he thanked the chastened cellphone owner as she fumbled in her purse,for setting the tone for the grand subject of his address. A little louder would actually help, he told her with a roguish grin,as laughter rang through the room.
