A screengrab from a video on Twitter shows Alex Ellis savouring a dosa.

Gulf Today Report

The West seems to have an eternal fascination with India. Bollywood films are a major point of attraction – and confluence. Several Hollywood stars have worked in Indian films, such as Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards. Some of the Hollywood scorchers adore Bollywood hunks. For instance, Kristen Stewart of ‘Twilight’ fame would love to act with Hrithik Roshan, in fact she wants her son to look like him!

Model Heidi Klum and singer Seal tied the knot according to Indian customs.

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The latest luminary to join the fascination with all-things-Indian bandwagon appears to be British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis. On his two-day visit to the Indian state of Karnataka, he won the hearts of the locals by not only tweeting in Kannada, the state language, but also sent Twitterati into a tailspin over his experiences with the cracker of a South Indian delicacy called dosa.

He was tweeting using superlative Kannada slang words like ‘Sakattagide, Bombat Guru’ which are common terms among Bangaloreans that mean ‘Simply Superb.’

He also posted a tweet of him having a dosa and saying ‘Sakattagide’ (Simply Superb) in Kannada on August 4 when he began his tour in Karnataka.

On Thursday, he posted a series of tweets in English but ensured that at least a word or two from the Kannada language were used to convey the message.

For instance, in one of his tweets tagged to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, he said, ‘Namasakara Mukhyamatri Avare’ (Salutations to the CM), and continuued with a message in English.

After his visit was over, in a follow-up tweet he promptly said, ‘Dhanyavadgalu Mukhya Mantriyavare’ (Thanks Mr CM for your time).

Apart from this, Ellis also initiated a one-of-its-kind poll on Twitter in relation to his experience with the masala dosa

After the poll results, the British envoy broke the dosa with his bare hands by ditching the cutlery, which is a general practice in the West.

On August 4, he had eaten dosa with using cutlery and followed it up by taking to Twitter.  Ellis asked users, "So South India; how do I eat tomorrow's dosa?" A whopping 92 per cent people voted for 'hands' while eight opted for the 'knife and fork' option.

On Thursday, the British envoy abided by his viewers’ requests and shared a video of himself feasting on the South Indian dish with bare hands, dumping the knife and fork.

Relishing the most widely accepted dish and go-to meal of India, the British High Commissioner said, "It tastes better with the hand."

Interestingly, Alex Ellis captioned his tweet in Kannada, ‘Masala Dosa, Bombat Guru’ (Masala Dosa tastes Superb with hands) and asserted that “92 per cent of Twitter is correct! It tastes better with the hand.”