Kaun Banega Crorepati? Agrawal Banega Crorepati!

The last time I was in Lucknow to work, I was accompanied by two other colleagues. As always, not being alone in a strange town meant we could stay out till late at night, and that's exactly what we did! After dinner on the first night we set out in search of a much fantasized about and romanticized Lucknowi paan (think tawaifs, kothas, mujras and lovingly crafted paans), but came back to the hotel disappointed. The next night was our last night and we were determined to find that elusive paan. We found it not far from our hotel, within the premises of a lowrise office block, at a paan stall that appeared to be famous, going by the number of people who stopped by to indulge in the treats served up there. And treats they were! Take a look at this paan menu! I'm sure you'll agree that Katrina Kaif is the least exotic thing on it if you are a paan lover.

If we were impressed by the menu, then we were nothing short of floored by the paanwallah! Shining out of his eyes and in fact his entire person was a great pride in what he did for a living. Every paan he served up was a labour of love, love for each of his concoctions and for each customer, love that rang out with the tolling of the bell he struck every time he handed over a carefully folded paan, like it was a work of art or a precious object! Customers came and customers went, and not once did he forget to strike that bell. The day before, when we had had lunch at a nearby Pizza Hut, we had rung a bell on our way out to show that we were satisfied. Here was a paanseller who rang a bell to thank every customer for coming to his stall and giving him the pleasure and privilege of making a paan! Amazing humility, don't you think? So sold were we on this man's professional ethos that, chomping contentedly on our respective paans we began jokingly to discuss writing for the boss a brilliant new joint venture business proposal with Shri Agrawal the paanwallah as partner! Or maybe we would just strike out on our own! Why share our brainwave   with the boss?! On our second round of paans, and chatting with him between customers, we asked Agrawalji if we could contact him from Delhi to order paan for a special occasion. We were promptly handed a business card with a phone number on it, and very confidently informed that in six months time there would also be an email id. The man had a vision for himself and his business! He had dreams but he was not a dreamer. He had dreams and he had plans. The neon sign over his stall advertised him as Agrawal Nawabi Paanseller (Ghantawala). Hmm....smart......nice way to set himself apart from others in the business. He was growing steadily in our esteem. We now wanted his postal address so we could refer other colleagues to him, and when he said in Hindi "meri gol building hai" the three of us turned in unison to look at the building in whose shadow the paan stall stood. It never occurred to us to doubt that he owned a building; in our minds he was already a paan tycoon! Our only confusion was with regard to the shape of the building, for it did not look round from any angle. Pointing to the building one of us asked, "Bhaiyya yeh building? Par yeh to gol nahi hai." To which he repeated "Meri gol building, madam, meri gol building". Still no sign of enlightenment on the faces of the three dumb Delhi women! Exasperated he pointed to the bottom of the business card he had given us earlier. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh......ok..... that's fine, the Marigold Building compound is your stall's address, and you don't own a building, but what the hell, we are still impressed with you Agrawalji! As if sensing that he had made an impression on us, he beckoned us closer to the bell and tracked the roughly engraved writing with his forefinger. It went "A. B. C. Agrawal Banega Crorepati. Signed Manoj Agrawal"! So be it Mr. Agrawal, you can do it!