Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
WHAT'S your notion of the perfect 'home'?
A cozy villa with a neatly manicured lawn and a picket fence, perhaps?
Well, no, if you ask Mukesh Ambani, now the owner of apparently the world's priciest 'home'. Two billion dollars, 27 storeys and 600 employees later, his glitzy tower stands tall and ostentatious, boasting a panoramic view of the bustling city, the beautiful Arabic Sea ... and the sprawling slums of Mumbai.
I understand that people work exceptionally hard to get ahead in this world, saving every penny and taking gutsy risks. But to spend such a colossal sum of money on oneself seems like poor use of some well-earned riches.
Not to say all your life's earnings have to be carefully stored away in a bank vault for the benefit of your future, rather lucky, descendants. By all means go out and buy yourself a new 3D TV. But don't you think building a house with a built-in cinema and gargantuan ballroom is a little too much?
Wouldn't that money have benefited some starving children or homeless families or helped set up some much needed schools?
People can't be completely selfless, I understand. But there is a balance that needs to be struck; some compromises must be made.
Why splurge on a house that you're constantly traveling family will hardly live in? Why insist on every floor being exquisitely unique, 'no two alike'? It is more of a hotel, a flamboyant statement than a home to live in.
Such a display of wealth is uncalled for, in my opinion, especially in a city like Mumbai where hundreds of poverty-stricken families live under shanty roofs, with no electricity or sanitary water. It makes me sick to see people use their money to show that they have it, instead of putting that wealth to better use.
Thus, in my eyes, it is no surprise that Bill Gates seems like a hero. In 2008, this man, the richest alive, pledged $58 billion to charity rather than leaving it to his children. The epitome of altruism, he has used his money to help countless people worldwide and has driven change and development.
It's hard to be as gracious as Gates, no doubt. But it is a great example of how money can help solve some of the world's problems.
While Ambani's home reminds everyone of his success and his luxurious lifestyle, it will always be a distasteful streak in the skyline.
