A good thing about the winter smog in Gurgaon is that you do not see most of Gurgaon. It is an ugly, dismal city and home to some of the richest Indians. Now and then, in the winter, I see its most famous residential building standing in the smog. People tell me that some flats there cost ₹100 crore each. For no fault of mine, a few days ago, a broker sent me a news clipping that said a 16,000-square-foot penthouse in the building sold for ₹190 crore. That apartment building makes me chuckle, especially when I see it in the smog. I chuckle in my head. I don't think anyone chuckles aloud when they are alone. But I don't know yet why it is funny, at least not very clearly. Maybe it is because the building reminds me that the experience of being super-rich in India is one of the most overpriced things in the world.
In the best areas of London or New York, you pay a premium for what the city offers, and what the city offers is available to everyone. In India, it is the opposite. The city is the problem, and you pay to shut it out, along with most Indians.
I wonder what it is about money that it does not help one escape the miseries of this country—the air and traffic congestion of its vast urban cancers that keep growing. Could class have helped them? Class is many things, and for an Indian, it is also the ability to be at home in the West, enduring its alien food and surface equality of all. Even though the world has changed, even though new money does not aspire to class anymore, there is plenty of the good life that can come only with class.
Denne historien er fra December 23, 2024-utgaven av Mint Mumbai.
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Denne historien er fra December 23, 2024-utgaven av Mint Mumbai.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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India should try the Amul model for all agricultural commodities
The cooperative model behind Amul's success needs to be adopted across India's farm sector. It'll ease credit for farmers too
At long last, the UK is shooting for the moon on clean energy
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Tighter carbon emission standards should push automakers to sell greener vehicles overall
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To Mint Street's credit, India resolved a macro trilemma in its own special way. Recalibrate it for a more market-priced rupee if the expected trade gains outweigh price-stability risks.
Escaping India within India is an exorbitant exercise
The wealthy in Gurgaon pay mind-boggling prices to keep real India out of their lives. But it doesn't happen
Can we use today's geopolitical chaos to uplift India's economy?
Successful economies have geopolitics to thank but India may be letting its opportunity slip away
WHAT THE MARKET TAUGHT INVESTORS IN 2024
In multiple pockets of the market this year, new trend chasers learnt some very old lessons
IOC probes bribery allegation of US cos
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India could be key SAF producer: lata
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Akasa to add more planes this fiscal
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