mumbai

Last week, President Obama was the first guest in the newly renovated 13 room presidential suite at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai and the hotel has released an image of the suite. The visit was part of the President's Asian tour. The Presidential suite had been damaged in the terrorist attacks two years ago on November 26. Since those events much of the hotel had been under repair and renovation. The 15,000-square-foot-suite includes the dramatic domed living room shown above which has a gold stenciled ceiling and a dramatic crystal chandelier. The suite also has a gym, a business center and a 10-seat dining room.

In the hotel guest book, the President wrote that the United States "stands in solidarity with all of Mumbai and all of India in working to eradicate the scourge of terrorism, and we affirm our lasting friendship with the Indian people."

The hotel has 560 rooms including 44 suites. The hotel first opened in 1903 and has been host to royalty, celebrities and heads of state. The hotel combines Moorish, Oriental and Florentine styles and offers views of the Arabian Sea. The decor melds Indian influences with luxurious touches including alabaster ceilings, onyx columns, silk carpets, crystal chandeliers and a multi-cultural art collection.

Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man and the man who is predicted to be the world's richest man by 2014, has finally moved his family into the $1 billion Mumbai skyscraper he has been building as a private residence. The home, which is named Antilla after a legendary island once believed to lie in the Atlantic Ocean, has 27 stories. Our sibling blog Housing Watch reports that the 53-year-old tycoon's new home is larger than the Palace of Versailles. It has underground parking for 160 cars, three helicopter pads and a theater that seats 50. The first few floors are given over to garage space and housing for staff takes up much of the middle section. The home also has a ballroom, several lounges, a health club, a dance studio and an elevated garden.

The home has a total of 400,000 square feet of space, room enough for Ambani, his wife Nita, their three children, his mother and plenty of household help. Business Insider has renderings from Hirsch Bedner Associates which show a home that looks more like one of the luxury hotels the firm has designed.

South Africa has Rovos Rail; Scotland, the Royal Scotsman, and now India has the Maharajas' Express, its first all-out upscale, live like royalty, luxury train. Anyone who has waited in an Indian airport for a plane that never arrives or has dealt with incessant traffic delays or other travel mishaps will welcome the ease and convenience of private train travel. As a passenger on the new train, there's no more waiting for guides, packing and unpacking, and wondering where or what to eat. Travel in India can be daunting. Just imagine how terrific it is to traverse the country in your own private train without missing all that's special about this fascinating and beautiful country.

Want to live at the top of the world? You're going to have to move to Mumbai. That's where Lodha Developers Ltd. is about to start construction on World One, a stack of luxury residences that will stretch over 450 meters (over 1,470 feet) into the sky. The tower will reportedly cost around $450 million to build and units are already being sold at prices from around $1.5 million all the way up to more than $12 million. The developer told the Wall Street Journal that the building will go green by recycling its water, harvesting rain water and using solar power.

Given the recent opening of the Burj Khalifa amid Dubai's real estate implosion, the building of such a monumental new skyscraper seems risky at best but according to Abhisheck Lodha, managing director of Lodha Developers, there is enough economic growth in India to support the project and enough rich people to live there.

The oval shaped building, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners and Leslie E. Robertson Associates, provides a balcony for each unit. The units on the higher floors don't only have better views but they will have less street noise and cooler balconies.

The Oberoi Mumbai will officially re-open on Saturday, April 24th, after an extensive remodel following the terrorist attacks of November 26th, 2008. The hotel was one of two luxury properties targeted by gunmen -- the other was the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower -- and hotel guests were among the 163 lives lost in the siege.

The new hotel seeks to banish dark memories with extensive use of white Thassos marble, technology updates in guest rooms, and, naturally, security enhancements throughout the hotel. (See photos below.) The return of these 287 guest rooms (rates start at $700 a night) will be welcome -- The New York Times reports that tourism to India is on the rebound -- in the first quarter of 2010, the number of visitors increased 13 percent compared with the 2009.

I stayed at the Taj Palace and Tower in Mumbai just a few months before the attack, in the heritage wing which has not yet re-opened. It was definitely a strange feeling to watch the very room I stayed in ablaze on CNN, and I've often wondered what it would be like to stay in that room again, now that the exact sequence of horrible events is known. (In case you missed it, the Virginia Quarterly Review ran a masterful series piecing the story together.)

I'm not superstitious about these things -- my theory is that bad things and good things can happen everywhere and that the structure itself is innocent -- but I wonder how future guests will react.

What do you think?

The truly wealthy never seem to care about tickets. They park where they want and drive how they want, because the penalties never mean much more than pocket change to them. Well they might want to give that a second thought as one extremely wealthy motorist has received an unpredecentedly large speeding ticket in Mumbai.

The fine was imposed on one David Coulthard, one of the most successful Formula One drivers never to win a world title. The Scotsman recently retired from active duty, but still performs from time to time for the Red Bull Racing team he helped form. On a recent demonstration run for 50,000 fans in India, Coulthard reportedly hit a top speed of 162 miles per hour... in a 30 zone. The result was that the local officials withheld the $33,000 deposit put down for the team for the event. Which has to be the biggest speeding ticket ever issued.

India's luxury goods industry is reeling from the recent terror attacks in Mumbal. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, a luxury hotel, was one of the main focuses of the attack and it is also home to luxury boutiques from Louis Vuitton, Bulgari and Fendi. The Oberoi Trident Hotel, which was also under attack, houses other luxury brands including Salvatore Ferragamo. It has been reported that some of Ferragamo's employees were held hostage. The sieges by Islamist militants, which have left 120 dead and hundreds more injured, focused on wealthy foreigners.

Luxury brands have increasingly looked to India as a growing source of revenue over the last couple of years. The International Herald Tribune had planned its annual luxury conference at the Imperial Hotel, New Delhi, from Dec. 2-4 but that has now been postponed. While most experts don't see a big long-term impact on luxury markets in India after the attacks some do feel that brands may be more cautious about investing in India in the short term.

The rather chunky India Tower seeks to be the greenest skyscraper in India. The India Tower is a 60-story tower in Mumbai. The developer is aiming to get a LEED gold rating for the project. The tower's odd patched- together look was created by FXFOWLE architects and comes as a response to the three-acre site, the building's requirements and its mixed use. Each chunk of the tower has a different use, separating out retail, a Park Hyatt hotel and serviced apartments, and long-lease and duplex penthouse condominium apartments. The tower will use sustainable systems such as solar shading, natural ventilation, rainwater harvest and the use of green materials.

The tower's three-story podium will include restaurants, retail stores, a fitness club and a nightclub. The Park Hyatt will have a Sky Lobby (floors 30-35) with the hotel residences beneath on floors 14-28. The long-lease apartments will be located on levels 38 through 50 and levels 52 to 59 will be home to duplex penthouse condominium apartments with panoramic views. Construction is underway and should be done in 2010.

Now this is a story of real estate excess, India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, is building himself a skyscraper in Mumbai as his personal residence. The building, which is the size of a 60-story tower, will only have 27 floors due to the height of the ceilings. Ambani, who is the richest man in India, has a personal fortune of over $20 billion.The home will house his wife, mother, three children and 600 live-in staff. What to do with all those floors? The first six are garage space, a health club will be on the next two and then staff housing will take up much of the middle section. Ambani and his family will live on the upper floors which will be topped with a helipad and swimming pools. The home reportedly will cost $1 billion to create and construction is already under way. It should be finished next year.

[Thanks, Shaun K]

Mumbai is one of the most desirable cities to live in in India, with a forward-thinking population and a booming economy. As in most places, desirability also makes it expensive and family-sized apartments can sell for more than £250,000, even in the suburbs. It turns out that price is not the only barrier to finding housing. Housing associations are being set up all over the city that exclude non-vegetarians from buying flats - even if they make a higher offer than a vegetarian bidding on the same property.

Since apartments are allowed to enforce Catholic-only or Hindu-only building, judges have not sided with the omnivores when they have taken housing associations to court on discrimination charges. A supporter of the associations said he felt "vegetarians should be given the right to admit who they want."

And to think: some people in the US complain about how their housing association picks out the exact color of pots they can use in the front yard and determines the appropriate style of front door knocker. At least they're not (yet) making lifestyle choices for the families who live there. It does beg the question about what the strictest housing associations would have their residents do for the privilege of living there. Stepford wives, anyone?

Nothing makes a big, well-publicized event as exciting as a wardrobe malfunction, but I will admit that it is more exciting at a sporting event than a fashion one. With all the costume changes and models running around backstage, trying to fit into samples of various clothing, it isn’t surprising that, from time to time, there will be a malfunction. In India, a recent show seemed plagued with malfunctions and, given the conservative nature of the media and guests in attendance, it created quite a stir.

Personally, I was much more interested in the clothes that were being shown than the media uproar that followed. Indian Fashion Week mega-show featured Indian designers, like Anupama Dayal and Shahzad Kalim and was full of silken, flowing skirts, vibrant colors, corset tops and lots of accessories, including embroidery and lace on the clothing. Dayal’s designs in particular were gorgeous and I have heard that some will be exported to parts of Europe and the US in the coming months. Anyone have any leads on a store, yet?

[Image Reuters]