In the world of Twitter, everyday brings with it a new story and a new person in the centre of a storm. This time, it was Twinkle Khanna. On Sunday, Twinkle was trolled by Art of Living followers after the columnist made a joke about Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of AoL.
Sri Sri had recently courted controversy when he said that Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner who stood up for the education of girls, did not deserve the award. Twinkle, who is known for her sense of humour, had commented: “Sri Sri got his noble foot and half his beard stuck in his mouth in a yogic pose that Baba Ramdev perfected a while ago #HolyMenandHairyTales.”
This, however, did not go down well with Art of Living followers. Darshak Hathi, the international director of Art of Living Foundation, Tweeted, “Millions of followers r going 2 boycott #Houseful3 4 hurting the sentiments by inappropriate and ill intended comments f @mrsfunnybones on Sri Sri. (sic)”. Twinkle then replied, “Didn’t mean to hurt anyone’s feelings, was meant to be a joke and am old enough to accept an error of judgment on my part.”
But Darshak was not to be pacified: “Error of Judgment or Fear of #BoycottHousefull3. Anyway Being Old & Being wise is different thing.” Twinkle, not being one to take things lying down, said: “Art of Living teacher practicing art of intimidation? Didn’t like my joke diss me-drag my husband, boycott etc. #Shame.”
To this the AOL International Director replied, “@mrsfunnybones My tweet was in response to your tweet which has hurt my sentiments. I appreciate that you have gracefully deleted it and @mrsfunnybones It happens when sentiments are hurt. No Hard feeling. Sorry if you r hurt. (sic)”
And though she deleted the Tweet, scores of Twitterati came out in support of Twinkle. She later moved on from the argument and put up a Mother’s Day post about a gift that her daughter gave her.
