Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, a well-known politician, responded in his own style when a user on X (formerly Twitter) reduced idli to “steamed regret.” His poetic response, accompanied by an AI-generated photo of him preparing idlis, soon was the buzzword on the net.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 27, 2025
It all started when the user asked about the limited options of breakfast food in Kerala, writing, “Why does it always have to be idli and dosa, man? Vere breakfast onnu ee naattil ille (Very little breakfast menu).”
Someone else intervened to express a more biting opinion: “Dosa? No words, just respect. It’s idli that tastes like steamed regret.”
That comment led Tharoor to provide a poetic defense of the South Indian classic. “Poor soul has clearly never had a good one. A truly great idli is a cloud, a whisper, a perfect dream of the perfectibility of human civilization,” he wrote.
He went on to add, “It’s a sublime creation, a delicate, weightless morsel of rice and lentil, steamed to an ethereal fluffiness that melts on the tongue.” With the right accompaniments, it is the gastronomic equivalent of a Beethoven symphony, a Tagore sangeet, a Husain painting, or a Tendulkar century. To describe such a thing as ‘regret’ is to lack soul, palate, and appreciation for the best that South Indian culture has achieved. I can only pity you.
Tharoor’s poetic response, labeled on the users who had been critical of idlis, was noticed for both its wit and profundity.
