A tale of two Idols

has not one but two clear winners.

Karunya and Sandeep felt the sweat on the palms of their hands and on their foreheads, even as anchors Mini Mathur and Aman Verma got ready to announce the name of the second Indian Idol.

Another name was going to be added to the list of the frenzied, "reality-bitten" nation, and both Sandeep and Karunya waited anxiously to hear which of their names would be called out.

"I was getting a little impatient especially towards the end, the wait was killing," smiles Karunya, the runner-up of the second season of Indian Idol.

Meanwhile, Sandeep, the official Indian Idol for 2006, is getting used to a new tune that his life is humming. For a boy who had never dabbled in money matters, the 22-year-old will now try and manage a contract worth Rs 1 crore, a musical career complete with albums, videos, ribbon-cutting ceremonies and what have you.

"A kurta pyjama-clad, desi guy, with lots of oil in his hair," as Farah Khan calls him, "who lacked charisma initially", throws up nearly 1,22,000 results on Google Search today.

Within minutes of winning the title, Sandeep has given interviews to nearly "200 media persons", has secured himself a manager, gelled his hair, is donning a new look courtesy the channel's makeover artistes who are giving him a new wardrobe, and yes, by the time you read this article, he will be in Sony's recording studio preparing for his album that will be ready to hit the market by next month.

"I won't change even if my life has undergone a drastic change," promises Sandeep rather philosophically, as we start our interview finally, at 11 pm "" after he's tirelessly gone for interviews, photo sessions, recording contracts and meeting celebrities.

He is still waiting to go home to meet his father who heads a construction business, the other 21 members of his joint family "who live together in the same house", little cousins who say they want to "show off" their big brother, and his friends, who are eagerly waiting for their "Mr Popular" in Bikaner.

"Ya, I don't know when I'll get the time to go back home, but I'm not complaining," he gushes. "It was a weird moment," he says, remembering the time when he was declared the new Indian Idol. "I instantly felt bad for Karunya," he admits.

Is he saying that Karunya deserved to win? "Well, it was a close contest, but I guess I was lucky to have had tremendous mass appeal," he feels. Sandeep could be right.

In Kolkata, newspapers were placing print ads urging the Marwari community to vote for their "Rajasthani lad". Sandeep Acharya fan clubs were gaining prominence in Kolkata and one particular fan club even came to Mumbai for the grand finale.

While it is all right to say that Sandeep is the winner of Indian Idol II, it would be unfair to call Karunya a loser. For those of us who were glued to the programme's episodes, it was evident that Karunya was the only contestant who was performing consistently and according to judge Sonu Nigam, "was sur ka pakka (thorough with his musical notes)".

Karunya had to be, born as he was into a family of musicians "" there are 19 singers in his family as of now. The 17-year-old Hyderabadi boy has been learning Carnatic vocal music since the age of seven. Interestingly, Hemachandra, one of the most popular contestants of Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa on Zee TV, is Karunya's cousin.

"I never thought of participating in a talent hunt show on television till I saw the impact of Indian Idol. I used to be glued to my TV set and promised myself to be a part of the show," he says.

For someone who is "extremely finnicky about my health, food I eat and time management," Karunya found his schedule going for a "complete toss" when he became a part of the show.

"I am in the habit of getting up at 4.45 am, doing pranayama and riyaaz from 6-9 am... so obviously I found it hard to cope with the drastic change of routine," he laughs. Did it hurt that he wasn't declared a winner officially because of the voting pattern?

"Everything in life is not ruled by voting... Indian Idol was a crucial stepping stone for all of us, but honestly speaking, it was only the beginning," Karunya tell us, while packing his bags to go home to Hyderabad for a few days, before he finally returns to Mumbai and starts working on his music album with Sony Music.

While Karunya had a family backing him and supporting him in his musical endeavour, Sandeep's family was a little reluctant to let their boy go into the "big, bad entertainment industry". Says his father, "He was not very interested in studies but simply loved singing. It was fine to sing in the early morning hours, but late into the wee hours of the night...." he laughs.

Sandeep had completed his BSc from Rajasthan University when Indian Idol came his way and he auditioned for it in New Delhi. Karunya, on the other hand, has completed his engineering in BTech and remembers enjoying himself thoroughly while doing projects for the course.

"From creating a water level indicator, to a traffic light controller, to an appliance corrector, my gang of friends and I have created lots of interesting stuff," he says.

After Abhijeet Swant, Amit Sana and Rahul Vaidya, Sony has found two more promising singers. But is there room for everyone in the industry? Will the new kids be able to sustain all the hype? That will be another story.