'Making a Quick Buck'? No, Sir. For Tharoor, It's 'Quomodocunquize' as He Takes Jibe at Railways

The next time you want to complain against the Indian Railways, register a grievance or simply take a swipe at it, simple words just won’t cut it. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has raised the bar and how.

Tharoor’s penchant for rare and complicated words has left everyone searching for a dictionary once again. The politician introduced a new word – ‘quomodocunquize’ – to his followers on Twitter on Sunday. This time it was not merely a head-scratcher but a jibe directed at the Indian Railways.

The MP tweeted: “Obscure Words Deptt: Must the Indian Railways quomodocunquize? @RailMinIndia #SeniorCitizensConcession #IndianRailway”

According to Tharoor, the word ‘quomodocunquize’ means “to make money by any means possible”. Offering no other explanation, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram seemed to be responding to railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s announcement that the senior citizen concession on tickets cannot be resumed as the railways was already operating at a subsidised rate.

Speaking at an event in IIT Madras, Vaishnaw had reportedly said, “For every Rs 100 spent towards operational expenses, the railways collects only Rs 45 from a passenger. We have to contribute to keeping the railways a sustainable mode of transport.”

The senior citizen concession was put on hold in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But, it has remained suspended even over two years after the situation is returning to normal. Railways services, too, are functioning normally with trains restored on most routes.

In a reply to an RTI query filed by Chandra Shekhar Gaur from Madhya Pradesh, the Indian Railways has generated an additional revenue of over Rs 1,500 crore by withholding the senior citizen concession for two years since the pandemic hit.

As for Tharoor, he is known to invent as well as introduce new words and phrases on Twitter. This practice has time and again made him the subject of numerous memes on social media. Many of his words have also been added to the Oxford English dictionaries over time.

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