Crowing crores

Luckily for everyone who put the show together, Kaun Banega Crorepati?‘s first crorepati turned out to be a suitable boy. It is not often that one meets young contestants who are so self-possessed and well-informed. Many will marvel at his courage and luck at critical junctures. But had he not been likeable it would have been hard to watch him walk away with the cheque. Every mother’s heart is sure to be warmed by a young person who sets a good example and plans to spend the money on further studies instead of, say, going on a holiday to Thailand. Imagine if he had been a geek or nerd. Or one of those masters of the universe you still meet in finance companies. It would not do at all if he had confessed to a passion for fast cars or designer watches. How much better to have someone that the great Indian middle class can identify with, mainstream, devout, go-ahead and yet not so far ahead of the pack or so way out in his beliefs and interests as to be unbelievable. There will be those, of course, whorelish the thought of the tax department taking away two-thirds of the loot. But there cannot be many of them. This is, after all, a great sporting nation which loves winners — although you might not think so if you saw how much effort the nation puts into turning out Olympic champions. But that is another story.

What now, one wonders. What happens to bright young people these days who go into the IAS? Will real life start with a posting in a remote district in Madhya Pradesh, perhaps, and like the eponymous hero of English August will our first television crorepati have to survive boredom, bad food and the powerful wives of powerful officials before moving on to greater things? One thing is certain, Harshvardhan Nawathe restores some of the glamour the IAS has lost. With all that competition from infotech, telecom, biotech and genetic engineering, the IAS is going to have to work hard at attracting talent. So it is nice when a crorepati comes along and says the civil service is his first choice. Meanwhile television scales higher mountains of money, the next one marked at ten crores. And something funny is happening to money along the way. A crore used to be something you made, or rather watched other people making over a lifetime or in the US. Now ten times the amount is made in an hour on television. If, onaverage, all the competing TV shows turn out one crorepati each every two months — as statistics and audience ratings demand — this country could soon be aswarm with them. And they would not be virtual millionaires the way TV turns out virtual chefs or virtual mafia dons. It would be real money to spend.

One can hear the groans from those who despise this lust for money almost as much as they hate filthy lucre. But their kind has been an endangered species ever since the late Deng Xiaoping proclaimed that it was glorious to make money and fired the imaginations of a billion Chinese who, it seems, have been doing little else since. Indians could have an edge on the Chinese. There they go in Guangdong making toys and electronic goods for America and they have to work long hours at it to become crorepatis. The Indian species is smarter. Here all you need is a good Kaun Banega Crorepati? guidebook selling for five rupees on the pavement and you are on the road to riches!