A Tale of Two Indias
http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501041206/story.html
Economic reforms have produced a new breed of billionaires amid
millions of the world's poorest people. Is this an acceptable price of
modernization?
By Alex Perry
Posted Monday, November 29, 2004; 20:00 HKT
There are few finer views of the new India than from the cliff-top
terrace of manufacturing magnates Parmeshwar and Adi Godrej. At night
on the horizon, like a diamond necklace, streetlights trace a
shoreline curve past the high-rise bank offices and apartment blocks
of downtown Bombay, skirt the bars, gyms and boutiques of Marine
Drive, and encircle Chowpatty Beach, ending in the rocky surf below.
On a warm, monsoon night this summer, the pool lights were on, and
from inside came the murmur of a low-lit dinner party for the élite.
Among the guests: a Hollywood megastar, a Murdoch network boss and his
model wife, and the head of a Gates AIDS charity. The dress was
informal but elegant, the conversation confident, informed,
international. "Just a small get-together," said Parmeshwar. It could
have been the Hamptons, Monaco or Hong Kong. But it's not. It's 10 km
from Asia's biggest slum.
India
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