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Reporter: How did you find America?
John Lennon: Turn left at Greenland.
A Hard Day’s Night
ABOUT THREE DECADES AGOor so, the local lore goes, a couple of Mumbai millionaires abandoned the Goa highway and anchored instead at a quiet coastal village visible from the concrete skyline that receded behind them. Their habitual summer getaway had been unfairly ruined by communal riots in Goa but, as they found out, there was gain where there was pain. The green taluka of ocean-lined Alibag had been discovered. It was a eureka! moment.
In the years since, that seafront stretches out as the Barcalounger of India’s bubble-wrapped rich and famous. Starting almost instantly with the Mandwa jetty that takes you inland towards Alibag city and the rest of its satellites, you might stumble into Vijay Mallya’s house. Almost but not quite. With the sea as his backyard, the wave of uninvited gawkers is stemmed by large, gorgeous gates. And green-sheeted fences that go on and on.
Imposing gates, fences and fancy neighbours are the leitmotif of what has at various times been described as the Long Island of India, the Hamptons and Montauk of the East. For the plebs who may not be quite so clued in, Montauk is a hamlet in the East Hampton town of New York’s Long Island, the retreat of the wealthy.
The millionaires of Mandwa who have more than a touch of the Mediterranean in their homes, include relative old-timers such as industrialists Mallya, Ratan Tata, Adi Dubash, the Godrejs and Shapoorji Pallonji alongside relative newbies such as celeb-industrialist Yash Birla, Harsh Mariwala of Marico, writer Shobhaa De, actors Shah Rukh Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Juhi Chawla, singer Alisha Chinai, builders Hiranandanis, Kishore ‘Pantaloon’ Biyani, who reportedly pocketed the Windmill Resort about a year ago, and countless others. One does not know if bird-watcher Salim Ali and his cousin Humayan Abdulali can in today’s times be classed as celebrities, but they earned their ornithologist feathers in the lush copses of Kihim.
OF COURSE, ALI HAS DE- parted but his cottage is still there as is Abdulali’s. For how long, is anyone’s guess. Money is plentiful in a galloping economy and the land rush is on.
For those who came in late, rich has acquired new definitions. “By the time it is evening, the asking rate has changed. Sometimes by a crore (of rupees),” says government pleader and Alibag resident Pradeep Patil. Talk to the villagers in Jirad, Aswan, Kihim and so on, and the story is the same. “Money talks. Alibag is a good place to be if you are prosperous. No laws apply here. No CRZ (Coastal Regulation Zones), no housing restrictions. You can buy land, everyone can become a farmer for a price. You will find many ‘farmers’ like Amitabh Bachchan here,” a bearded local guffaws.
The El Dorado of real estate, Alibag has heaps of stories about sisters being gypped of their share by their brothers, land ownership records being fudged and, says Mumbai-based lawyer Vali Merchant, villagers selling the same plot to multiple owners.
There are no roads, a shortage of water and poor infrastructure in many places. When potter-sculptor Anjali Aney, who came looking for peace and quiet and settled in Chorade village (“the Borivli of Alibag” and therefore not as coveted) asked the village sarpanch where her taxes were going, she got the reply: “Chilkud” — or it doesn’t matter. Money was flying around and the villagers were rushing to sell.
A cart-pusher, we were pointed out by auto-driver, transporter and real estate agent Uttam Patil during a tour, had his own bike, house and lots of money in the bank. Villagers are rich here — but no thanks to development projects. You cash in when you can.
Of course, there is trouble in paradise. There is an agitation brewing against a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Alibag. Litigation rules, and villagers have been protesting against rich usurpers of land.
But for those who speedboat from Mumbai to Alibag in their AC yachts, and step into their AC cars, and enter their AC houses, these are pesky irritants.
When you can have a beach house that daringly hovers over the sea, snootily stepping on CRZ restrictions that seek to keep you 200 feet away from the shore, life’s little problems always come with solutions such as generators and water tankers.
ALIBAG HAS ITS FORMER town officials who are always ready to circumvent rules and help sign away vast tracts of land to the wealthy. “Their mouths were always open. Whatever you put in wasn’t enough,” says a local.
The mad man on the beaches of Kihim may lament selling his land at a throwaway price, but a peep into the homes of the Long Islanders of Alibag can be a charming distraction. Bathrooms boast of Rs 20 lakh Italian fittings, houses have Balinese furniture and swimming pools that face plasma TVs. There are palatial mansions with stained glass domes. And, if the nouveau riche swarms become too much to handle, there is always another destination to go to.
When you are a Mandwa millionaire, billionaire or trillionaire, never fear the good times ending. When there is nothing left, there will always be the moon. Replete with Ming vases and Miu Miu.
Then he says when I get old and gray /
And feel like I’m marooned,/ He will take me in his rocket ship/
To that beach house on the moon.
Beach house on the moon
Jimmy Buffet