I was talking to someone about my book. One of the ideas I talk about is choosing small, simple words over big, complicated ones.

He disagreed. “Look at Shashi Tharoor,” he said. “He uses such heavy, complex words. Yet he’s an effective and successful speaker. So how can using big words be wrong?”

It was a fair question. As I thought about it, I was reminded of a passage from P. L. Deshpande’s story, Rao Saheb.

Rao Saheb goes to watch a popular Marathi musical. One singer’s performance annoys him in particular—especially because the singer has changed the tune of a well-known song. Never one to hold back, Rao Saheb goes backstage and confronts him.

“How dare you change the tune of such a popular song?” he asks.

The singer is offended. “Even Dinanath Mangeshkar changed tunes. No one questioned him. So why question me?”

Rao Saheb replies, “Dinanath Mangeshkar was so talented that no one could dare question him. His mastery was so complete that he could sing a song any way he wished, and it would still become better. You reach that level of excellence, and I won’t question you either. Until then, stick to the tune that works.”

The same applies here.

Shashi Tharoor is very good at English. When he uses complex words, they don’t sound forced or fake. They feel natural and earned. His command over the language carries the weight of those words easily. But most people are not Shashi Tharoor.

Most people are programmers who write excellent code, but struggle to write a clear email. Accountants who handle numbers effortlessly, but fumble when framing sentences. Managers who know exactly what they want to say, but can’t quite put it into words. For them, big words are not a sign of mastery. They’re a burden.

Writing is not about proving how many words you know. It’s about making your point. If you can genuinely carry complex words without sounding artificial, by all means, use them. But if you can’t, there is no shame in simplicity. In fact, there is strength in it.

Write simply. Keep it short. And most importantly, write in a way that people understand.