If you want to live in Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, and enjoy the good life, you should be ready to pay a premium, and that too a hefty one–by way of home rentals, electricity bills and even parking charges. And you also need to adjust to the fact that there are scores who would wait patiently for years and months to get a club membership by paying a whopping Rs 1.2 crore, the same price you pay to get a small house in the distant suburbs.
South Mumbai’s famous Breach Candy club, which opened its membership after 17 years, is charging people over Rs 1 crore plus 12.36% service tax, taking the total membership cost to a whopping Rs 1.12 crore, an Economic Times report pointed out. On the other hand, to be a member of the Willingdon club, one must be willing to shell out around 50 lakh for admittance with an additional annual fee of Rs 12,000.
And despite the fee, the list of prospective members is endless. So why are people chasing this membership? Is it all about exclusivity? A sign that you have finally arrived in South Mumbai? Or is the membership more than a trophy asset?
The Breach Candy Club boasts of the largest India-shaped swimming pool in the country and also houses three restaurants, a state-of-the-art gym, a reading room, three outdoor tennis courts, a basketball court and a volleyball court. And with a dearth of parks and sports facilities for public use, membership to these clubs often becomes for SoBo’s social hub.
The club has two pools – a humongous saltwater infinity pool and an indoor one. The outdoor pool has a sun deck and uses filtered and chlorinated sea water. Bikini-clad moms sunbathing while daddies in shorts feeding their kids is the usual sight here.
In fact, the club was opened in 1878 but remained reserved for Europeans for several years even after Independence. Even now, of the club’s close to 4,000 members a little over 400 are Europeans. In fact even when the club was thrown open to Indian in 1960, only Europeans could be its trustees.
Says Sharell in a blog post, ” he Breach Candy Club is an absolute haven. What really makes the club special is its setting, right on the seafront. I began wishing that I lived in south Mumbai, so I could go there often.. butit’s not an easy club to get into though. Guests have to be signed in by a member, and then pay a 300 rupee entrance fee. The club’s membership is limited mostly to expats with foreign passports, and is by invitation only.”
“It’s all about making it to the A-list. The who’s who of South Bombay is dying to get in” says my Parsi friend, who is the privileged member thanks to her lineage. ( The parsis and expats are a favourite at this club). So, the waiting periods may be long, but people just won’t give up. They apply, wait for their chance and hope maybe their kids will be more fortunate.
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