You have heard this before, and you may be the one saying it the next time: Oh he's so powerful. Who is he, this privileged mammal for whom things just happen or who can make things just happen? No doors are closed for him, no dreams are unrealisable for him, and the things he does make the maximum difference in the lives of others. For the new Moses in pinstripes, the sea parts without much of a prayer. He belongs to the club where the ordinary can't even apply to be blackballed. It is the power elite, or what is traditionally known as the Establishment, or the Higher Circle. The power of its members is measured by access, ideas and action. In a world divided between the domineering and the dependent, the top dogs play out their power. It is not an accessory but an attitude.

Once it was the sole preserve of the statesman, the soldier and the merchant. It may be so even today in less democratic places. And the government continues to be the obvious medium of power, which rhymes with politics. That was the Indian story too, for so long. The neta overwhelmed the national life, its ideas and aspirations. He still does, but power's only viable adjective is not "political". There is a new freedom in the market and the free marketeer is less hassled by the state. That has changed the power equation as well. The business class is at the top of the social hierarchy, whose power and privilege can't be edited beyond a point by the political class. A non-Indian example: George Soros can't be undone by George W. Bush. Blue-chip plutocracy has acquired functional sovereignty.

That is why the cheerleaders of India Inc. have become pronouns of power. That doesn't mean that the state has unconditionally withdrawn from the affairs of the bazaar. At best, it could be a meddlesome power. The smartest and the finest overcome it-or neutralise it. That is the power of being powerful. Obviously, India Today's Power List 2005 too, like the previous two, is dominated by corporate honchos. And if India still suffers from bouts of Third-World depression, one of the world's most costumed entertainment industries provides the cultural Prozac. That explains the power of showbiz. The power script is further animated by media mavens and policy wonks, tech gurus and impresarios. It is powered by wealth and wisdom, resolution and reach, courage and originality. In verve and variety, it could not have been more Indian.

And it mirrors the changing power matrix. The regime change in Delhi has brought with it a new power elite with its own sociology-and aesthetics. New courtiers and fortune-tellers, new savants and salvation junkies are on the ascent, patronised or commissioned by the new government. Their sponsored gospel influences the way we are governed. It intrudes into our lives, and that is power. It further validates an old truth: there is no permanency about the power elite. The Establishment changes with the government. Power breaks the monotony of equality; it favours few and affects all. It is sustained by mind and money, and still, it defies definition. Shall we call it applied physics of influence? The following pages belong to some of its smartest practitioners.

LIST OF 50 POWER PEOPLE

Index