President Obama will begin a visit to India. While three days will be the longest foreign trip of Obama’s presidency, it’s still not enough time to understand this emerging power which is home to a fifth of humanity.
To better understand India, Obama needs to take a mile-long walk between the homes of two of the country’s leading private citizens: Mahatma Gandhi and Mukesh Ambani.
Ambani’s 21st century towering mansion, Antilia, is the talk of the town and the Web. Gandhi’s house is now a museum in the same part of South Mumbai.
The irony is ripe in that 20th century’s leading ascetic’s neighborhood now hosts what is being called the world’s most expensive home. But that is India, home to seemingly every possible contradiction.
Obama will likely meet Mukesh Ambani on his trip and he is also likely to visit Mani Bhavan, Gandhi’s home. It’s unlikely that he’d be allowed walk between the two homes, but since it’s my hood too (I’ve lived here for eight years) I’ll try to explain what Obama would see.
From 1917 to 1934, after his return from South Africa, Gandhi used Mani Bhavan as his Mumbai house. The house lies on one of the older lanes of South Mumbai. It’s lined with trees, a rarity in Mumbai. The house itself isn’t small, it’s a three-story building, but the Mahatma didn’t own it, he stayed there as a guest. And despite its size, Mani Bhavan was an austere place.
Gandhi had no need for material things. He mostly used just one room, a 12 foot by 12 foot space filled with a chakra for spinning yarn, a mattress, a writing table and a chair.
Photos of him in a dhoti (loincloth) dot the building. There is Gandhi in a dhoti leading the Salt March, Gandhi in a dhoti meeting well-dressed British Officials in London, and Gandhi in a dhoti speaking to the Indian masses.
Also on display are Gandhi’s writings and sayings. Most Indians are well versed with Gandhi’s precepts of non-violent disobedience, but more important are Gandhi’s views on how to live a good life. Gandhi famously promoted spinning cotton into khadi for clothing khadi has become a chic symbol even today with Mumbai’s fashion week sporting a khadi line.
Continuing along A.K. Marg, one passes dozens of mom and pop shops, most are small, stuffy rooms filled with dusty products. Gandhi respected the role of the small businessman and his sayings on customers are on the walls of stores across India.
To serve customers, Mukesh Ambani is building Reliance Fresh, a chain of bigger (but still small by American standards) retail stores selling groceries at discounted prices. Ambani aims to be the Wal-Mart of India.
Moving further up Hughes Road, take a left and head up a hill to Ambani’s new house. Antilia is not a house in the traditional sense of the word but rather a 27-storey skyscraper that has been built for just one family. If Obama comes by road from the airport to Taj hotel, he can join the thousands of commuters who have gawked at it daily as the building has sprouted towards the sky over the last two years.
For many, the house has been a vulgar display of wealth. The stats are well reported, six floors of garage space, separate lifts for a small army of servants, three helipads, a theater and a swimming pool.
Indian commentators have mocked Antilia. Some have wondered how Ambani could justify building such a home in a country where many barely eek out a daily living. And many, both foreign and local, have wondered “Where is the revolution, the anger of the masses?”
Still, take any survey here and ask for the most admired Indian of all time and the winner will invariably be Bapu, Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation.
These two neighbors represent two strains of Indian thought. One preached an austere life of hard labor and giving back to the community. The other also extols the value of hard labor, but also enjoying its fruits. Ambani has said he will set up a world-class university and expand his philanthropic activities. It would be a sight to see if Ambani expand his philanthropic activities at the same pace as his business activities.
The contradiction between old India and new India baffles most foreigners and many Indians. Gandhi’s austerity and Ambani’s bling are diametric opposites, yet they are in the same neighborhood. A young Indian will aspire to be Ambani, but will remember Gandhi’s philosophy.
Obama will see it himself in two weeks, as India aspires to the good life, it also tries to live a good life.
(source:wsj.com
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