Tharoor acknowledged that there was certainly more than a tinge of sadness at leaving the UN, which has been his home for nearly three decades. "Inevitably, when you've worked -- as in my case -- almost 29 years, in an organisation, and that too, done it from all the earlier idealism of your first sort of foray into adulthood -- because I joined the UN at 22 -- I've invested all my youthful idealism in this organisation, so, I naturally, feel a very strong sense of commitment to it and identification with it."
"So, leaving is certainly not easy and at some level, I will always take a part of the UN with me in my heart and mind," he said, but added, "having said that, the truth remains, that life does offer interesting possibilities for change at some point," and noted that "whether now or later, I would have wanted to try something different anyway. So, the only question is, I would have some regret about leaving the UN behind and leaving my colleagues behind, who have become like a family to me."
Tharoor said, "If I hadn't done it now, I would have done it at some point in the not too distant future. So that sense of regret is tempered by excitement at the interesting possibilities outside."
Image: Christoph von Dohnanyi of The Norddeutsche Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra conducts a performance of Beethoven's Third Symphony (Eroica) at the function.
Also see: How Amisha Patel won an elephant
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