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Patrick Inglis is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the City University of New York. He lives in Brooklyn.
  • November 22, 2010 10:49 pm

    Mukesh Ambani: Role Model

    According to the New York Times, Mukesh Ambani’s fortune is worth $27 billion. Fitting, I suppose, given that his $1 billion new home in Mumbai is 27 floors—filled with nine elevators, a fifty-seat theater, a spa, and a grand ballroom. Number of residents? Five. Perverse? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. Nearby resident Sushala Pawar suggests another manner of speaking, however, wherein Mukesh Ambani figures as a human being, a role model—and an opportunity: 

    Farther down the street, Sushala Pawar admitted struggling to comprehend the difference in Mr. Ambani’s life and her own. She cooks for a family in a nearby apartment, earning 4,000 rupees a month, or about $90. She sleeps on the floor of the hallway after the family has gone to bed.

    “I’m a human being,” she said. “And Mukesh Ambani is a human being. Sometimes I feel bad that I live on 4,000 rupees and Mukesh Ambani lives there.”

    But then, nodding toward the building, she perked up.

    “Maybe,” she said, “I could get a job there.”