Convict Queen
Though AIADMK leader Jayalalitha was debarred from contesting the elections on grounds of her conviction in a corruption case, she was sworn in as chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Will her aggressive game plan work? And should popular mandate overrule judicial verdicts?

Great Call Of China
Indian entrepreneurs are eagerly joining the swiftly growing queue to set up shop in China.
The land once considered forbidden has suddenly become
the hottest destination for Indian businessmen.

Looking East
Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to Malaysia may have achieved little on Quattrochi's extradition and India's greater ties with ASEAN, but it showed there is more to their bilateral relations than these two issues.

Mother's Day
Stalinist methods played a vital role in the humiliating finale of M. Karunanidhi's dynastic ambition.

Readying For Nukes For the first time after India became a nuclear power, the Army stages a nuclear war game to check preparedness.

LIVING: TV MILLIONAIRES

Life After Crorepati

This has got to be The Great Indian Middle Class Part II. Except it's not some sociological treatise on moral depravity, material longing and endless yearning. This is the story of ordinary people getting on television for a few minutes of fame, pocketing cheques with more zeroes on them than a bad school report card, and
then ...

And then not losing their heads. Sure they clown around on the sets of Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke (JCPK) with Govinda, they fawn over Amitabh Bachchan on Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) till you want to snap, "Hey, knock that silly look off your face." Back in real life, they're not going out and splurging, not changing their lifestyles overnight. Life has treated them differently, even the taxman, but there's no middle-class myopia at work here. Suddenly, they're talking fixed deposits and rainy-day reserves. They are even serious about promises made to charity.

Chennai's R. Shankar—one of only three winners of Rs 12 lakh on Sun TV's KBC clone, Koteeshwaran—reluctantly agrees to a brief telephonic interview. "I did not participate in the show for the money," says this 47-year-old corporate executive. "It was just for fun." The fun doesn't include spending the cash. The buzz is he gave it away to a voluntary organisation. Mumbai's Harshvardhan Nawathe, solo winner of Rs 1 crore on KBC can afford some self-indulgence. But the 27-year-old still plans an honest crack at the civil service exams. Young Kanwal Preet, who won Rs 25 lakh-plus on JCPK, is as level-headed. She continues to work long hours at her office in Delhi and says, "I am very happy with this episode in my life, but I wouldn't like it to overshadow my own personality." For the TV millionaires, there's a big life beyond the small screen.

N.K. Verma
34, Delhi Jal Board employee, DELHI
Rs 1 crore JCPK

If Vishwanathan Anand had not

BUMPER WIN: Verma poses with his family in front of the prize car

married a good-looking girl, Narendra Kumar Verma might not have been a crorepati today. Spotting the couple's photograph in a newspaper one day, Verma learnt from the accompanying article that Anand lived in Spain, and went on to tell his wife how interesting it was that a man in a faraway country was bringing so much glory to India. "Pretty woman," remarked Kalindi Verma. The episode left its mark. So when Govinda asked in the first round of JCPK, "Identify this person ... he lives in Spain with his wife", Verma's hand rushed to the buzzer.

"Isse to meri life hi change ho gayee ji (My life has changed because of this)," says Kalindi. "This" is Rs 1,00,00,001 plus a Santro, an air conditioner and a computer that her husband went on to win on the show. The electricity has taken a break on a sweltering summer evening in Najafgarh on the outskirts of Delhi, but the family gathers round on the darkened porch all the same, to listen as Verma tells his story. Son of a municipal school headmaster, this Delhi Jal Board employee is now the reigning celebrity of Najafgarh and star son-in-law of Narnaul tehsil in Haryana where the excitable Kalindi's family lives. "People have developed a special attachment for us," says Kalindi acidly, seated in her compact home that will not be her home a year from now (they're building a new house elsewhere).

The attention is fun, but not easy. Verma averts his eyes in what seems like embarrassment when a diminutive nephew volunteers the information that "chachaji bought a cell phone" after the big day. When he says, "Now I can educate my children in good schools," pride or something like it makes Kalindi cut in with, "But there's nothing wrong with their present school." Verma says candidly, "We couldn't afford a car. Even if we had bought one we would wonder if we could afford the maintenance and petrol. Now I don't have to worry about that." If something worthwhile comes along, he may quit his job and start a business. It's not often that a man will allow a journalist to quote him on that. What if the boss reads this article? Well, that's another thing he need not worry about.

-Anna M.M. Vetticad

MetroScape

Delhi Cinema:
"Flicks Down Under"

Mumbai Restaurant:
Karma

Kolkata Restaurant:
Teej

The Madhya Pradesh governor orders a CBI inquiry into a land allotment by the chief minister to the Nai Duniya group, kicking off a constitutional crisis. INDIA TODAY Special Correspondent Neeraj Mishra reports in
Conflict Of Interest.