People of Rajasthan have greatest value for water, the scarest commodity of their homeland. They treasure water like precious item. A waterloss area is unproductive being inhospitable for vegetation forest, agriculture, industry and that dried up the scope of business and trade. The money becomes a rarest thing. So, a Rajasthani hangs on to every paisa as he does with the last drop of water. They are the most miserly people of the land of India. Proverbially a Marwari (a Rajasthan business class) would opt for getting skinned rather than getting separated from his coin of the lowest denomination he has on him. They say it does not matter how much you earn, what matters is how much you save.
Marwaries cut down on all the expenses severely to save money. This habit leads to most of them having a pot of savings in quick time to launch one on bigger projects. The rest of the India can’t match them in piling up money. And they have some natural compensatory drive to prove that they can be prosperous inspite of their land being useless. They do it with their frugality and business enterprise. Then, suddenly they transform into big spenders with vengeance when it comes to traditional celebration like marriage or building up a home. It is as if a dam of money were burst open. Laxmi Mittal also followed that tradition and betrayed the same tendencey by spending money with such abandon that the people appeared stunned and overawed.
London home
Kensington Grarden is the most elite residential area of London where the world’s tycoons live. Millionairs can’t even dream to live there. Laxmi Mittal bought his Kensington Palace from Surney Ecleston in Rs. 475 crores. The 55 thousands sq. feet palace had 12 bedrooms, swimming pool, guest room turkish bath, indoor stadium and a garage for 20 big cars. In its rennovation and post purpose refurnishing Laxmi Niwas spent millions of dollars. It was reinforced with Makrana marble. The famous painter/artist Maqbool Fida Hussain decorated it with frescos, murals and pictures.
Mittal’s first residential buy
Laxmi Niwas appears to have put his heart in it. This palatial mansion was decorated by Persian orgin artist David Khalila in 1996 for Burney. This was the real extravagance Laxmi Mittal indulged in. This palace is a testimonial of the fact that it is the residence of world’s fourth richest tycoon. It also reveals that Marwaris do spend money on their home and banish their innate miserliness for once. They know how to make money and show it through their opulent living place.
Marriage of Aditya
Mittals, Laxmi and Usha love their only son Aditya very much. Infact they dote on him and often display it. When it comes to Aditya the money does not matter. The alert and sherwd business brain Laxmi Mittal suddenly transforms into a senti-mental person in case of his son. He celebrates the birthdays of Aditya in such a grand way that each of them becomes a memorable one.
The marriage of Aditya was doubtlessly going to be the biggest event of their lives. He did that needless to say. The marriage took place in 1998 and in reception alone Laxmi Mittal and Usha spent several crores. The people of Kolkata would remember that event for a long time. It was done at Maharaja scale. The reception of Aditya and Megha was attended by Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan etc. The celebration was full of glitter, glitz and glomour. The emotional father did make it a memorable event and unforgettable for Kolkattans who had never seen any marriage like that.
Marriage of Vanisha
Like son Mittals love their daughter Vanisha no less. Vanisha had done post-graduation from London School of Oriental African studies. She had struck friendship with Amit Bhatia. Later it turned into love affair and they decided to get married. The families of both sides raised no objection to their union. Mittals arranged the marriage at a stunning scale the details of which are awe inspiring.
The Stars of Rs. 250 crore wedding
❑ The invitation cards were silver plated and each had twenty pages. Each page had marriage programme depicted in embossed pictures. Each card also carried a gift of 5 kg centre table made of silver.
❑ World’s 1000 most influential personalities were thus invited. For Indian guests 12 jet aircraft were hired.
❑ The ceremonies continued for six days at London and Paris.
❑ The Indian guests included Hinduja brothers, Anil Ambani-Tina, Anand-Anuradha Mahendra, Vijay Mallya, Praful Patel (Aviation minister), Murli Deora, Lord Swaraj Paul, Ambar Akash, K.P. Singh, M.F. Hussain, Ramola Bachchan etc.
❑ For entertainment of the guests the Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee and Juhi Chawla were specially invited.
❑ Aditya and Megha Mittal arranged a special music programme in Tuleris of the grand Paris hotel De Medisi in which the love affiar of Amit Bhatia and Vansiha was musically presented.
❑ Mehandi, Sagaai and Doli customs were performed regally in Versailles, Paris. The marriage cermony took place in Holel Grand Intercontinental, Paris. The marriage feast was hosted to 1000 special guests.
❑ The six day long celebrations were accompanied with several kinds of dinner, lunches and feasts. These feasts alone cost crores of rupees.
❑ After Mehandi rite in St. Cloud Gardens artificial Eiffel Tower backdrop was created for the Bollywood Night show for the entertainment of the guests. The star entertainers were Priety Zinta, Hritik Roshan and Shahrukh Khan.
❑ From the side of Bhatia family Doli Launch was organised at Hotel Grand Intercontinental. Delicious Indian delicacies were served and fireworks show had been arranged.
❑ Bollywood stars and the invited guest were put up in four star hotel suites for all the six days.
❑ Sehrabandi of groom Amit Bhatia was held at Saloon Reweld of the Le Grand Intercontinental. It was attended by Bhatia family, guest and the friends of Amit.
❑ The marriage procession was to reach ‘Vaux Le Vicost’ which was an hour journey away from Paris. Mittals gave a rousing reception to the groom party. Thousand of lamps were lit up recreating a Diwali atmosphere and sight.
❑ Amit Bhatia wore a golden brocade Sherwani that gleamed in the glitter of lights. He was taken to marriage venue in a golden chariot. Vanisha was wearings a dress specially prepared by fashion designers Sandeep Khosla and Abu Jani. It had a lovely red and golden pink colour pattern. When she put garland in the neck of Amit a person held a golden umbrella over her head.
❑ After the garland ceremony the bride and the groom were introduced to the guests. The guest blessed the couple and so did sky with light showers. After showers fireworks were displayed. Then, Akshay and Aishwarya started the entertainment chapter by presenting dances tuned to popular Bollywood numbers.
❑ Bhatias welcomed the bride with Doli Launch held on 23rd June 2004. Vanisha for this occasion wore pink Lahenga-Orni prepared by the fashion designer Tarun Tahiliani.
❑ Hotel Le Grand was totally booked by Bhatias for the six days.
❑ For vegetarian guests
Indian chefs Hemant Oberoi and Munna Maharaj were flown to Paris. The two were accompanied by platoons of specialist cooks of Kolkata and Mumbai.
❑ For drinks bar equipped cars were availabe for guest to enable them to drink while cruising around. 5000 bottles of Moutain Rothschild had been bought for $ 3.2 million.
❑ Besides Bollywood stars popsinger Minogue was also booked who alone took $ 567000 for his half hour show.
❑ Hotel coffee shop was booked to remain open for all 24 hours with vegetarian and non-vegetarian snacks available.
❑ Three TV channels were exclusively booked to cover the Amit-Vanisha marriage with access in all related hotel suites where guest were staying. B4U was continuously airing movies. NDTV was feeding the news to all and on the third channel live telecast of the marriage ceremonies was being beamed with the commentary explaining the rituals and customs being performed.
Thus, Mittals spent as if they were giving away all they had to renounce the world. Although the guests were no small fry who figured in the richest list of the world, yet the reckless spending of Mittals made them hold their breath. But there was no show of any arrogance as the Mittals went around thanking all for honouring them with their presence. It was the height of extravagance all right but Mittals only betrayed their humility.
World’s second most expensive address
After the merger of the famous Arcelor-Mittal Laxmi Mittal bought the second costliest house of the world for his son and daughter-in-law in 2008. This house also is in Kensington Garden area. Mittals had two residences already there. It was obvious that the senior Mittals wanted their children nearby. The new palace was bought for 117 million. It shows how the family is closely knit and does not want the riches to distance its members from each other. The family values rule the roots.
Gardens bought for Aditya
Laxmi Mittal has three house now in the Kensington Billionaires’s Row of Lodnon. The first house was bought by Laxmi Mittal for himself in 57 million. The second he bought in 70 million for his daughter Vanisha. For Aditya and Megha he bought the third mansion in 117 million in Kensington Gardens. The total worth of all the three palaces in estimated at about 440 millions with prices appreciation and they are all situated in the most prestigious address Pincode of London.
The Aditya-Megha palace was bought from an Israeli-American tycoon in financial support business. The palace is four storeyed that has five bedroom suites and servant quarters. It was built in 1920 in Neo-Georgian style. Infact Laxmi Mittal wanted John Hunt palace in the same area and was willing to pay 200 million but the owner was not willing to sell.
Laxmi Mittal has prestigious properties in many prize locations of the world valued at 3.5 billion. His Bishop Avenue property is valued at 9 million. In New Delhi Mittal has bungalow in the costliest Pincode of Prithviraj Road valued at Rs. 40 crores. He has the best residential properties wherever his steel business is all over the globe.
Gulf strait jet
Mittals have bussiness all over the globe and to oversee their works they are always on the move on land or through air. On an average Laxmi Mittal is airborne 600 hours in each year.
In 1993 Laxmi Mittal got a chance to own his own aircraft to facilitate his travel. From the Sheikh of Brunei he bought Gulf Strait executive jet plane. Mittal spent Rs. 75 crores on its rennovation. The jet has a bed room, meeting room, shower and several other inflight facilities befitting the steel king of the world.
In four continents Laxmi Mittal has business in 16 countries that demand his presense and the only means to make that possible in aircraft. He now spends two hours a day of an average being airborne. Laxmi Mittal has travelled around the globe through air only lesser times than a man made earth satellite.
