Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

Building towers is nice… But is it really a good idea??

I was looking for data about earthquake risks in Mumbai and see what I found:

“India ranks second in the world as most exposed country to natural catastrophes; every year, only the seasonal floods affect millions of people. This country is also strongly the place of earthquakes.”

Like if they needed this…

“In India, earthquakes usually happen in the North of the country, in the Himalayan region, where the Indian and Eurasian plates meet. The distortion of this Himalayan zone is important, the Indian plate getting closer to the Eurasian plate at the speed of 4.2 cm per year. In comparison, the African plate is getting closer to the Eurasian plate at the speed of 0.7 cm per year.

On January 26th 2001, an earthquake hpaaned in Kutch area – already destroyed by an earthquake in 1819. This earthquake, the most intense in 50 years, was the most violent to hit India, known as a risky area since 1956. It killed about 300 000 people. The human toll was made bigger by the corruption in the construction sector. The Indian press condemned the improper constructions and the miss in the urbanism plan. Dozens of thousands of people died because of buildings collapsing.”

Well, I’m just saying… Apparently though, we are still safer in Mumbai than in Delhi :

Click on the image to get it bigger.

Sources: http://www.chambon.ac-versailles.fr/science/geol/seism/pays/inde.htm ; http://benoot.com/inde/carte-risques-sismiques-inde-14181-91

India is about to build the second higher residential tower… (http://www.newsofap.com/newsofap-17499-25-world-one-world...)

A French newspaper said that “with One World, Lodha is going to give to Mumbai the icon she deserves so much. One World will be the luxurious showcase of an India growing by 8.4% in 2011.”

A Tower, symbol of success?? We definitely live in a man’s world!! Just looking at the Emirates… The bigger the tower, the stronger the owner…

And this is how, in India, Hindus worship Shiva’s tower (the lingam, the phallic representation of this God: cf http://www.indiandacoit.com/tag/lingam)…

When the tower will be built, Mukesh Ambani will look very small with his super tower Antilla:

•  27 stories (173m)
•  3 helipads on the roof
• 9 elevators
• Private residences, gyms, pools, spas and a theatre with 50 seats
• 3 stories of gardens
• 6 parking stories (for his 170 cars) and one story for the car maintenance
• 1 story « Versailles like ball room »
• Cost: between 1 and 2 billion dollars
• Cost of the monthly electricity bill: Rs 70 lakhs (120 000€) for the story, the electricity company over the area of the tower is B.E.S.T. and not even Reliance Infrastructure (Ambani brothers split the Reliance company). No regret: Reliance Infrastructure belongs to Anil and there is little hope that he would give his brother any gift!
• Staff: 600

But Antilla will remain amazing in this that it has been built for 5 people (Ambani, his wife and their 3 kids) whereas One World will have 300 flats… 

 Sources: http://www.indiasummary.com/2010/10/13/antilla-mukesh-ambani-antilia-mukesh-ambani-house-mumbai-worlds-first-billion-dollar-home/ ; http://www.newsi18.com/en/national/mukesh-ambanis-house-a... ; http://googlesightseeing.com/2011/01/the-worlds-most-expensive-house/ ; http://www.mumbaimirchi.com/mumbai_info/electricity_supply.htm ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_Infrastructure

Vincent and I went to visit a tea factory in Darjeeling. We could not understand the explanations of the guy regarding the different kind of teas. You might look dumb if you go to Darjeeling and you are not able to answer any question regarding tea… So I decided to make some research!