Sanjay Dutt, the actor caught between fame and notoriety, has this famous line in a recent movie: When people repetedly ask Who’ll Become a Millionaire … who’ll become a millionaire … I realized that to become a millionaire you must first become WHO! ( as in Who’s Who).
The last week has all been about a Bihari youth form Motihari, Champaran District , Bihar. All media at some point or the other carried news of his winning the biggest prize of the TV game-show conducted by the inimitable Amitabh Bachchan,Rupees 5 crores or 50 Million.
The TV Show was telecast tonight, 2nd November, 2011 at 08.30 and I watched spellbound like millions of Indians all over the country. I shared his confidence, I shared his logic, I shared his tension and emotion and I shared his joy and triumph. It was an hour of pure, magical joy to watch this Bihari youth, his wife and other relatives ; and it was magical to see Amitabh ‘s exuberant delight as he yelled Paanch karode (Five Crores!) . It was magical to see the winner pour a glass of water on his head and raise his thin arms, palms bunched, in some triumph and some delirium, as if he was Tarzan or Mohammed Ali after yet another world Heavy weight boxing title.
Sushil and Amitabh hugged, then Sushil hugged his wife in public view, something that no common Indian has ever been seen to do because of an unwritten code of conduct that insists that pati-patni must maintain public decorum and not be seen even remotely sexually involved in their life as a married couple ( the children alone are public evidence of their sexual relationship;beside, may be, a Karwa Chauth and a Varalakshmi Vratam). They were shown clinging to each other may be 3 times; what’s more, Sushil’s wife clung to Amitabh which is unthinkable in a traditional family where the wife and the daughter-in-law only touch the feet of the patriarch at all events of public celebration. Amitabh, face-glowing, stroked her head with avuncular joy, even as tears of joy and disbelief welled in her eyes.
A landmark event in the history of modern Indian public life, this.
And what were some newspapers saying? India’s own Slumdog Millionaire! How insensitive; how callous, how indelicately low in thought, O my countrymen! That even Amitabh, for all his debonaire grace and suavity, could not resist repeated references to Sushil Kumar’s lowly status and salary of Rs. 6,400/- per month!
In the early 1980s India’s premier training institution for future administrative officers (IAS and IFS) at Mussoorie, probably under the Directorship of an upright Civil Servant, P.S. Appu, was witness to some ugly behaviour. A trainee from Bihar threatened a woman trainee with a gun, it is alleged. The pistol-wallah ( sounds like tchai-wallah! in Anil Kapoor’s deliberately mocking and contemptuous tone), insisted that he had been bad-mouthed by the woman–trainee as a ‘stupid, drunken Bihari’. Whatever the truth of the matter is, Biharis are targetted in Mumbai; Biharis are gangster-lords in Telugu movies; Shatrughan Sinha and Laloo Prasad Yadav epitomize in different ways, the Bihari after the generation of Babu Rajendra Prasad.
A sorry view about the land of the Buddha and of Nitish Kumar.
Now Sushil Kumar has come along to change that view. From what one could see of the young man on TV, he is truly Su—shiil, of good manners and conduct. His view of the winnings? An opportunity to help his brothers to stabilize their businesses, AND to give up his little job to PURSUE education! If I heard right, he wanted to study for the civil sevice examinations. Truly a thrilling moment for the aam admi of this country. Last year, a police constable from Andhra Pradesh ranked very high at the civil service examinations.Recently a physically challenged person won his due right from the Apex Court to selection for the Civil Services though his physical challenge is of a grievous nature.
Inference: India is not yet lost. There are enough people who believe that they must strive and not yield in despair.
Compare this with the millions that Koda, Kalmadi, Kanimozhi, Maran, Soren, Gali Janardhan Reddy, Yeddyurappa et al have contrived to siphon off from the country’s exchequer, if the Investigators’ allegations are confirmed through trials in Courts of law. How many millions did they need for a comfortable, indeed luxurious living? Sushil Kumar’s tax-paid winnings amount to about 35 million rupees. And he acquired the money through completely legal means, with luck playing its due part. Did our ministers doubt their basic abilities and the favour of lady luck, that they resorted to dubious, criminal means to acquire those disproportionately large amounts, far, far in excess of their most fanciful needs?
Sushil Kumar’s TV Game is by far the most worthy of the games the ministers are alleged to have played. May his tribe increase.
