Overview

• Swiggy sent freshly steamed idlis to the Congress MP’s home on Sunday and posted a photo of him with its team on X.
• The company followed up with a Hindi message expressing delight at serving him what it called the region’s finest idlis.
• Tharoor’s post praised a well-made idli as “a cloud, a whisper” and likened it to a Beethoven symphony, a Tagore song, a Husain painting, and a Tendulkar century.
• He was responding to a comment on X that called idli “steamed regret,” which helped the exchange go viral across platforms.
• Coverage noted an AI-generated image Tharoor shared of himself making idlis and highlighted reporting on the dish’s debated origins, including links suggested to Indonesian rice cakes.