When it comes to the hierarchy of banality, the observation “You know, I never really wanted to get a watch, but after seeing that, I was like, ‘Watches are cool,’” is a blandishment so … well … bland as to scale new heights of inconsequentiality and open new vistas of triviality. But when you understand that these words were spoken by Mark Zuckerberg of a Richard Mille being worn by Anant Ambani, the triangulation is such that this sentence assumes an importance far beyond its apparent meaning.
If you are even remotely aware of the Gilded Age–like explosion (and disparity) of wealth that has led to Narendra Modi’s India being known as “the Billionaire Raj,” then you will know Mukesh Ambani and his family for their idiosyncratic Mumbai skyscraper, built for one family and almost twice as tall as Big Ben. With a staff of 600, parking for 168 cars, nine elevators, and three helipads, it makes the needle-like glass towers of Manhattan’s Billionaires’ Row seem like overcrowded slum tenements.
