That's not the only version of success as understood by the West. There is also scientific success. I think most people would agree that winning the Fields Meda

That's not the only version of success as understood by the West. There is also scientific success. I think most people would agree that winning the Fields Medal is a great success, not due to the money involved (which isn't little, but neither is it a fortune), but due to the accomplishment. Case in point, most people would say that Grigori Perelman is a successful mathematician: he refused to accept prizes such as the Fields Medal or the Millennium Prize. Similar goes for chess champions, athletics champions, all sorts of sports champions.