From the rules of the show to the title music,everything in Indian Idol is an exact replica of the original American Idol show.

But,after looking carefully at both versions of the show,there is one BIG difference which most people in India are not aware of and that is..

How much money does it cost to vote?

In American Idol,telephone calls from landline phone to the voting lines are toll-free. In case ,you want to use mobile phone,standard text messaging charges are applicable.

But,in Indian Idol,the sms cost to the magic number 2525 starts from Rs.2-3 per sms.If you use IVR facility,the cost per minute can go upto Rs 6.

And,in order to maximize their votes(read as SMS) ,voting in Indian Idol starts every day from 9 PM IST and will end after eleven hours, i.e. next day at time 8 AM while voting for American Idol opens at the end of the performance show each week and stays open for just two hours.

May be we have deeper pockets than Americans or we are really passionate about success of Ankita or Amit,there is huge money going out of our pockets everyday that can be used in building better India rather than finding Indian Idols.

P.S. I have been trying to solve daily "real" issues which educators face while integrating technology in their curriculum. Click one of the icons on the right sidebar to join the growing community of educators reading this blog by RSS or by email...