New Delhi, Sept. 29 -- Congress MP Shashi Tharoor received steaming plates of idli at his home after he defended the South Indian delicacy in a social media post. Tharoor, known for his eloquence, responded to an X user who had described idlis as "steamed regret". "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 civilisation," the Thiruvananthapuram MP wrote.

In his post, Tharoor went on to compare a well-made idli to "a Beethoven symphony, a Tagore sangeet, a Husain painting, a Tendulkar century." He added: "It's a sublime creation, a delicate, weightless morsel of rice and lentil, steamed to an ethereal fluffiness that melts on the tongue. To call such...