Kavita
Chawla, from Kolhapur in Maharashtra, was the first Rs 1 crore winner in the 14th
edition of Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), the Hindi quiz show hosted by Bollywood
legend Amitabh Bachchan modelled on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The question
that won Kavita Chawla Rs 1 crore was:

Which of these animals was the first to go around the moon in a spacecraft and return to Earth?

Options

Mouse

Rabbit

Tortoise

Chimpanzee

Answer: Tortoise

Chawla, who
spent her teen years sitting in front of a sewing machine earning a meagre Rs
20 a day, has always had her eye on the hallowed KBC hotseat. Ahead of the
airing of the episode, Chawla said she had wanted to be on KBC ever since the
show began in the year 2000.

Kavita
Chawla’s Rs 1 crore win comes on her second attempt at KBC. She was at the show
last year as well, but had to return without coming to the hotseat because she
could not crack the fastest-finger-first, a three-question entry round.

Chawla told
news outlets that she was dejected after not making it to the hotseat, but Amitabh
Bachchan’s encouraging words kept her hope alive. “Last year, when I couldn’t reach
the hotseat from the fastest-finger-first round, I was so heartbroken. I remember
sitting on the set and crying my heart out,” Chawla told The Indian Express.

“Amitabh
Bachchan ji then came forward and told me to not be demotivated. His words kept
echoing in my mind and I decided to come back, this time with the mission to
win,” she added.

Chawla says
she wants to use the money to send her son abroad for higher education.

When India
Today asked Kavita Chawla how she prepared for her KBC stint, she said: “As a part
of the preparation, I didn’t refer to any specific book or channel. Whatever I
used to teach my son, I would keep those books to study. I would underline the
important things and refer to them. I used to follow KBC and knew what kind of
questions were asked. So whenever I studied, I would mark the important things.