Think that housing prices are outrageous? Check out this billion (yes, you read that right: $1,000,000,000) house owned by India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani:
Need to cool off after the stressful drive? Of course there's a swimming pool and yoga studio. Or, by some accounts, an ice room to escape the Mumbai heat, infused with man-made snow flurries. Then there's the mini-theater, three balconies with terrace gardens, the health club, spectacular views of the Arabian Sea (and the Mumbai slums). [...]
Sedate isn't an obvious description for the new building, which reportedly requires 600 staff members to keep Ambani, wife Nita, their three children and Ambani's mother in the style they'll soon become accustomed to.
The rather awkward-looking structure was designed by U.S. architects using principles of Vaastu, Indian traditional geomancy akin to Chinese feng shui, to maximize "positive energy." No two floor plans are alike, and the materials used in each level vary widely, driving up the cost.
600 staff for a family of 5? Why, that's downright silly - you'd only need 200 tops, otherwise it's just extravagance. Mark Magnier of the Los Angeles Times has more: Link (Photo: Danish Siddiuqui/Reuters)
as for the staff of 600, well, i'm sure that in a building that big, maybe only 100 is necessary but think of it in terms of being in a third world country again: labor is cheap and you are providing employment to 500 more people who would otherwise be unemployed.
Which begs for some interior shots.
its a junkyard.
I thought that the wealth inequality in the US was bad...