Monuments of modern India

POLITICALLY INCORRECT/Shobha DeOne had a civic reception thrown for him by a grateful city. The other was given an award by a grateful magazine. Both men belong to the same club - the Billionaire Boys' Club. And are brand ambassadors for the B-word. `B' for Billionaire. Dhirubhai Ambani, in his acceptance speech, talked simply and naturally about his humble beginnings.Azim Premji, in his address, preferred parables. Both managed to move their audience to tears. No, no, no. Not of boredom. The salty tracks on our cheeks were created by mushy sentiment. Naked emotion. Nostalgia. As I listened to Premji set out his `Seven Rules for Success', my usual cynicism melted away. He wasn't saying anything new. We've all heard the lines before. Or read them in self-help management guides. Feel-good lines. About standards of excellence, integrity, honesty, leadership and so on. Chicken Soup for the Billionaires' Soul. Elementary stuff they teach you at B-School. `B' as in Business. And yet, it was moving in its own way. Premji, who comes closest to the Eccentric Tycoon stereotype, is known to be a bit of a wacko. His former employees not just think so, they say so. In print as well. But Premji's success story remains an inspiring one nevertheless. Whether he's a few million down today or displaced from his perch on the Fortune-500 list tomorrow, it doesn't cause much of a dent to either his image or his reputation. It's all paper money anyway. And what's money to a man who insists on flying cattle-class because he doesn't want his senior executives to get fancy ideas and fly club themselves? Premji lives the life of an ascetic. That's a pretty cute option for a billionaire. But at least he doesn't go public regarding the toilet-cleaning arrangement in his home. (Narayana Murthy, on the other hand, has gone on record about his domestic duties, which include dish-washing and toilet-cleaning.) At the sedate function organised by a business publication, Premji was the cynosure of curious eyes. Most people there had never seen the reclusive man in the flesh. And those that had were speculating whether he'd show up at all to pick up the `Businessman of the Year' award. They were equally uncertain about his appearance. Would Premji shock the `suits' present by not wearing one himself? Or would he stroll in casually clad (scuffed loafers, no socks, no tie, unironed shirt, creased khakis) for long, lonely walks in Coonoor? Alas, Premji disappointed us all by his conventional appearance. Dhirubhai Ambani's reception was in a different league altogether. And yet, there were significant similarities between the two functions. Both men are a symbol of success in today's India. We look up to them because they've made money. Big money. And money is the most powerful aphrodisiac known to man. We are awestruck by their wealth. In fact, most of us cannot comprehend just how vast that wealth is. Nobody can count that far. I wonder if they themselves can. Wealth of that vastness becomes an abstraction. Something like the Black Hole. We know it exists - but can we see it? Premji and Ambani are the triggers society need to push the Average Joe/Jane into believing it's possible to `make it'. And to make it in this lifetime. In less than 50 years. Or as in Premji's case, in no more than a decade. It's the KBC thing again (``If they can do it, I can do it''). In fact, I'd go so far as to say that without Ambani and Premji, there'd have been no KBC. The show works, because they work. The show succeeds because they've succeeded. It's back to that over-used word - `greed'. In the past, India had the Taj Mahal and the Qutab Minar. Visible symbols of the glory that once was India. Today, we have Dhirubhai and Azim Premji. Looking at them, we feel reassured about ourselves. And when the rest of the world looks at them with the same reverence, we feel still better. These are the monuments of modern India. Men who've `made it'. Men who count. Men who are players in the global arena. Men who win awards and prizes. For being rich. Men who inspire millions -- to go forth and earn. They may not rank as the next wonders of the changed world. But they've certainly carved out a niche for themselves as Wonders of Post-Independence India. Soon we'll be charging tickets to visitors hoping for a darshan. Especially by moonlight.