Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India and the fourth richest man in the world has found a new address for himself. While walking down the elite neighborhood of Alta Mound road in Mumbai, if you should happen to see a giant monstrosity of no discernible shape in steel and glass sprouting from the ground and raising its limbs towards the sky, you would be looking at Mukesh Ambani’s new residence. It has been named after a mythical Island, Antilia. I don’t know so much about the island, but the building, on various occasions, does remind me of a mythical beast that will begin devouring curious passersby on the road at any given moment.
Antilia has 27 floors and it is 570 feet high. It covers 400,000 square feet in internal space. The first six floors are dedicated towards car parking, which can accommodate a total of 160 cars. No two floors in this building are alike and the entire structure has been built in accordance to Vastu Shastra, an Indian version of Feng Shui. At estimated costs of $2 billion, Forbes has put it down as the most expensive private residence in the world, a title that is sure to have pleased Mr. Ambani.
This absurdly structured residence has, among other things, 9 elevators, various guest rooms with glass fronts, a health club with a gym, a dance studio, a ballroom with gold and glass chandeliers, and a 50-seater private cinema. The roof has three helicopter pads and there is also an elevated garden with ceiling space to accommodate small trees. The last four floors of this house (if you can call something so tall and huge a “house”) are reserved for private living spaces that have been specially designed for Mukesh Ambani’s family and his mother Kokilaben.
To keep the house running in mint condition, Ambani has a staff of 600 people. Considering that there are all of 6 occupants in the house that makes it roughly a 100 staff people for each family member! That’s taking the term, “a retinue of servants” to a whole new level!
Well, I don’t get it! I mean, I get that if you are the 4th richest man in the world, you would want to have an exclusive residence for the whole world to talk about and discuss. But, when you have all that money stashed, why wouldn’t you spend enough to make sure you have a decent looking, even beautiful house instead of something that seems to have been put together in a hurry by a giant child with building bricks!
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