Shashi Tharoor may have billed it as the clash of New India against Old India, but clearly the New India showed it was not so new after all. Here was a minister, a global diplomat, an acclaimed writer, a hair-tossing sophisticate who moved as easily in New York's social set as in Delhi's soirees, charming men and melting women alike. A New Indian who fought and won an election in his native Kerala, easily swapping his bandgalla for a mundu. There was an Old Indian, who had inherited money, seemingly squandered it through most of his life, finally striking it big only thanks to a combination of political skullduggery and some artful leaning on friends and relatives. An Old Indian who spoke with a strange accent that was half American and half accessed from the rumoured 11 schools he had attended-one reason why he had acquired so many friends, perhaps. Who didn't quite look as if he was born to wear Gucci much less pronounce it. Yet, in the end the New Indian behaved very much like an Old Indian. Not only did he make the mistake of being associated with a woman who was clearly not his wife or of the "right class" or indeed of the right hair colour, but also he seemed to have enabled her to make some money from the relationship. That was so very non New Indian in a nation where the icons are careful to show little interest in dirty money. Take Sachin Tendulkar. After the knock with the Ferrari and its unpaid duty, he has always looked more interested in accumulating runs. Or take Aamir Khan, perhaps the most successful Indian actor of recent times, who insists on living a very middle class life. It's in keeping with a prime minister who still keeps his Maruti 800 parked in 7 Race Course Road and an IT tycoon who along with his equally loaded wife is busy giving away money to various good offices around the world. Indeed New India is sending a message to Mr Tharoor but it is not what he thinks. Using twitter or running for UN Secretary General does not make you modern. Just as inheriting money from your dad and using your friends for profit doesn't make Mr Modi Old India. Sure, his awful lisp pales in comparison with Tharoor's clipped accent, honed in his old college's dramatics society. Sure, also, that Modi's bumptiousness looks particularly awkward when compared to Tharoor's effortless ease. Yet in the new India, it's Modi creating a new asset, an imperfect mix of politics, sports and entertainment, served with a dash of sleaze dressed in haute couture. And in new India, it's Tharoor just creating an embarrassment, trying to hustle an entry with a made-in-Dubai model. The whole saga has not been so much about Su-shi as it has been about ShaMo and what it says about us as a society. Ultimately it's about creation of value, even if the balance sheet doesn't quite hold up to scrutiny. Yes, we all know that Modi's IPL has a lot wrong with it. Yes we know that being a FROMmie (Friend or Relative of Modi) gives you an all access pass to the party that never ends. We also know that no one knows exactly who owns what and how much of this party. But we also know that Tharoor wanted not just the government but the spoils of government as well. The battle between Old India and New India was ultimately just a battle between the New Hustler and the Old Hustler. Who hustled best? Don't expect either Shashi or Modi to tweet about it any time soon.
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