Saga of the Ambanis  (Paperback, Sunil Sharan)

The saga begins with the wedding of Mukesh Ambani’s daughter, Isha Ambani Piramal. It then goes back to talk about the patriarch of the family and the founder of the empire, Dhirubhai Ambani. Ambani hails from the Indian state of Gujarat. Instead of working for others, Gujaratis mainly ply their own businesses. Many of the motels and hotels in America are owned by Gujaratis. Dhirubhai's quest to become someone took him to Aden (now in Yemen) in the fifties. He worked first as a gas station attendant there, and then was promoted to a clerical job. He returned to India with Indian Rupees 50,000, an enormous sum in those days, in his pocket. That he could save so much money in the relatively petty jobs that he held in Aden is testament to his frugality. His older son, Mukesh, was born in Aden. Upon his return to India, Dhirubhai started a business exporting spices. His family was now his wife, Kokilaben; two sons, Mukesh and Anil; and two daughters. All of them lived crammed in a two-room chawl (best described as a shared house, similar to the projects in Paris, only the Ambanis shared the single communal bathroom with a hundred other families) in Mumbai. Imagine that! And now the Ambanis, just 40 years later, live in the most expensive house in the world, the storied 27-storey Antilia, built in one of Mumbai's most posh neighbourhoods and staffed with 600 servants. I am sure their servants have more hygienic facilities than from where the Ambanis originated.