The Home and the World
The Congress sweep has thrown up a host of talented and qualified MPs in Parliament and as Ministeries are being finalised, the spotlight is turning on to each of them. Shashi Tharoor, formerly at the UN, and prolific writer, was a closely-watched candidate and will surely be a keenly-followed Minister as well. So what was it like to work on his campaign team?
What Mr. Tharoor had on his side was immense likeability. He could come across as a son, a friend, a brother and father figure to various members of Thiruvananthapuram’s electorate. This defined our primary task – to enable and ensure Mr. Tharoor’s voice could reach to the maximal parts of the constituency. We created content: from trite musical productions, slick video displays, succinct text messages, elaborate email blasts, a comprehensive online presence, personal telephone messages for and from Mr. Tharoor. And Mr. Tharoor spoke in very competent Malayalam, our native language, about local issues – much to the dismay and amusement of the voters who had heard that he was a foreigner and couldn’t speak Malayalam.
That’s an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal article penned by Keerthik Sasidharan who took a break from his high-power investment banking job in NYC to join Tharoor’s core campaign team. Read the article here.
