In October 2011, Sushil Kumar, a computer operator from Motihari with a salary of 6,000 rupees, won five crore rupees on Kaun Banega Crorepati? (henceforth KBC), the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the original British quiz show which doubles up as a reality show in following the fortunes of its participants. The press repeatedly described him as the real-life Jamal Malik, the hero of Slumdog Millionaire (henceforth SDM), in what is perceived to be a similar fairytale turnaround. However, in the less than fairytale plot of his life, the money will be used to build a roof on a house where his parents and five brothers live along with their families, to purchase gold jewelry for his wife, to build a library to store his magazines and books and, most importantly, to allow him the freedom to pursue his ambition of becoming an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer. This ambition of becoming a civil servant will require him to devote all waking hours to prepare for the fiercely competitive examination called the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), identified especially in Bihar as the route to supreme symbolic capital and power, above and beyond anything money can buy. The newspapers report that he has already shifted to a cramped paying guest accommodation in a university campus neighborhood in Delhi. He is sharing the room with four or five other immigrants from Bihar, all of whom are preparing for the UPSC. Such slumming and the monasticism of living apart from his wife are considered necessary sacrifices in the bid to pass the exams.