Feeling good?

For a Mumbai socialite, it scarcely got bigger and better than this, reported the Indian Express.


Prerna Goel, "porcelain perfect 33-year-old homemaker and mother-of-one" was selected by the ultra-luxurious Chanel to star in a television documentary on the fashion house.

"It’s quite a prestigious thing," said the Lagos-born, London-raised Goel, just back and jet-lagged from shooting in Paris for five days. The Chanel team was also in Mumbai for three days last month, shooting Goel as she went about her daily life—meditation, playing Mom, charities and of course, some evenings well spent at Mumbai’s top restaurant, Indigo.

"I was chosen for their accessories profile," says Goel, who owns over 35 bags (the lowest price for one is Rs 50,000), and numerous belts and shoes.

I don't grudge over anyone for their share of designer labels - wear 'em if it makes you feel good. But 35 Fendi bags? If I had several crores in my bank account - and 18 lakhs was mere spare change - I still wouldn't buy 35 of those obscenely priced thingies.

And the luxury retailers who think India is the 'next big thing' need to look beyond the small, extremely creamy layer of society for whom carrying the 'right' bag and wearing the 'right' shoe is a matter of do or die.

The rest of us have a life and an identity which is independent of the labels we may choose - or choose not to -display.

Minding your business

But would you mind if the media also took a quick peek at your husband's income tax returns? Just to confirm, you know, that the money spent is tax paid. And save you the trouble poor Ramdeo Agarwal is now going through. After coughing up Rs 3 crores as ransom money -which was recovered when his son's kidnappers were nabbed - the high profile stockbroker had generously offered that the I-T dept keep Rs 84 lakhs of it. It was, he admitted, black money - when asked to explain the 'source of income'.

Should we stand up and applaud this honesty? Or wonder how many more such crores are stashed away??
Under the Income Tax Act, all payments and withdrawals above Rs 20,000 have to be made by cheque. Interestingly, the officers in Mumbai have been told the currency notes meant for the abductors were accompanied by bank slips and were in Rs 1,000 denomination.

Was Mr P Chidambaram (the then finance minister) at all concerned how easily and legitimately black money was circulating in the system???

Evidently not

Which is why the name "Thanks" for the new luxury designer store in Mumbai's Worli area was so very apt. Thanks, Mr Chidambaram, for having taxed cash withdrawals of Rs 10,000 but not digging into the Cartier skeletons in our closets.

The new 10,000 square feet store houses top brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino RED, Stella McCartney, Juicy Couture, Chloe, Paper Denim, etc. Prices? From Rs 4,000 for a 'regular' Juicy tee to lakhs of rupees for Fendi and D&G accessories.

Says the Sunday Mid-day," The attempt here, is to really save you a trip abroad for shopping..." And, I might add, the ignominy of being caught evading customs duty on several lakhs worth of luxury goods. Like two loaded and well known gentlemen.

It used to be known as 'smuggling', you know, at one time... But let me not spoil the 'feel good' factor.

This calls for some genuine tax reforms. In india it is sad to see that even the head honchos tend to pile up black money and finally land up into money laundering.


Vir Sanghvi once mentioned in his article that many of the Mumbai's or might as well say India's top businessmen siphone funds from their holding Companies and stash them away in swiss bank accounts and live in the bombay high society circles with the remmittances from the swiss bank a/c s leaving their Companies in shambles, Indian investors in such cases are left having no choice.