How Delhi’s super-rich housewives strive to be part of a global elite

德里的超级富豪家庭主妇如何努力跻身全球精英阶层

When Akash Ambani, son of Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest men in the world, decided to host a pre-wedding event in February 2019, he chose St Moritz in Switzerland. While St Moritz is a popular ski destination for the international jetset, it was not a prominent holiday destination for Indian elites.

当世界上最富有的人之一穆凯什•安巴尼的儿子阿卡什•安巴尼决定在2019年2月举办一场婚前活动时，他选择了瑞士的圣莫里茨。虽然圣莫里茨是国际上流人士的滑雪胜地，但它并不是印度精英们的主要度假胜地。

But through my research with super-rich housewives of Delhi, I’ve discovered that since the Ambani winter gala, Swiss ski destinations such as St Moritz have become a part of the lexcon of the Indian elite. India’s cricket captain Virat Kohli and his wife, the actress Anushka Sharma, as well as other Bollywood celebrities, recently celebrated new year in Switzerland.

但通过对德里超级富豪家庭主妇的调查，我发现，自从安巴尼冬季盛会以来，圣莫里茨等瑞士滑雪胜地已进入印度精英阶层的词典。印度板球队长Virat Kohli和他的妻子，演员Anushka Sharma，以及其他宝莱坞名人，最近去往瑞士庆祝新年。

By choosing St Moritz, the Ambani family seemed to signal that they are at ease with the way of life of the international super-rich, and are comfortable with both an Indian way of being elite as well as a global one. This ambition, desire and anxety to be a part of the global elite was clear among the subjects of my new book, the super-rich women in Delhi who call themselves housewives.

安巴尼家族选择圣莫里茨，似乎是在表明他们认同国际超级富豪的生活方式，对印度精英和全球精英的生活方式都很游刃有余。在我的新书《自称为家庭主妇的德里超级富婆》中，这种成为全球精英阶层一员的抱负、愿望和焦虑是显而易见的。

There are 119 billionaires in India and the top 1% of people took 73% of the wealth generated in the country in 2017. My research looks at how Indian business elites use their money and explains both how their life is structured around luxury and privilege and marred by anxeties of class, money and race.

2017年，印度有119名亿万富翁，最富有的1%的人掌握着该国73%的财富。我的研究着眼于印度商界精英如何花费金钱，并解释了他们的生活是如何围绕着奢华和特权，以及如何被阶级、金钱和种族的焦虑所破坏。

A global wedding

一场全球性的婚礼

I spent some time with a bride-to-be, Soha*, who returned from the UK aged 23 after completing a masters programme and was set to marry Akshay, a man from a renowned Delhi business family. The match had been suggested by a famous marriage broker.

我与一位准新娘苏哈相处了一段时间。她23岁，完成了硕士课程后从英国回国，要嫁给阿克谢，他来自德里一个著名的商业家族。这桩婚事是由一位著名的婚姻介绍人建议的。

Soha was excited about her wedding, especially because her university friends, most of them non-Indians, were going to attend and they were looking forward to what she called a “big fat Indian wedding.” Soha had promised them a gala affair, but also warned them that she was not a typical Indian bride.

苏哈对自己的婚礼感到很兴奋，尤其是她的大学朋友们，他们大多不是印度人，将会参加她的婚礼，他们对她所说的“盛大的印度婚礼”很期盼。苏哈向他们承诺她会举办一场盛大的婚礼，但同时也提醒他们，她不是一个传统的印度新娘。

She saw herself as a sophisticated Indian and wanted her wedding to incorporate Indian traditions—but also appeal to a global palette. This meant, she told me, that the aesthetics and ambience of her wedding would not be “too loud,” by which she meant ornate decor with bright colours of red and orange. Instead, the colour scheme would be pastel to exude a sophisticated vibe. In fact, for her bridal wear too, Soha chose a golden beige outfit over red, a traditional colour for Punjabi brides.

她认为自己是一个讲究的印度人，希望自己的婚礼既能融合印度传统，又能迎合全球的审美。她告诉我，这意味着她婚礼的美学和氛围不会“太热闹”，她指的是鲜亮的红橙色的华丽装饰。相反，色彩会很柔和，打造精致的氛围。事实上，在新娘礼服上，苏哈选择了金米色，而不是旁遮普新娘的传统颜色—红色。

The Hermès Birkin bag

爱马仕铂金包

One symbol of global eliteness that has been embraced by super-rich Indian women is the Hermès Birkin bag. The competition among them does not end at owning a Birkin. It also centres around whether the bag has been purchased from the Hermès showroom in India or from a city abroad, its colour and whether it’s made of “regular” calfskin, or an “exotic” leather such as crocodile skin.

爱马仕的铂金包是全球精英的象征，受到了印度超级富豪女性的欢迎。她们之间的竞争并不仅限于拥有一只铂金包。她们还会攀比包包是在印度的爱马仕展厅购买的，还是从国外某个城市购买的？是什么颜色？

The level of this competition struck me when these women discussed the “thrill” and patience involved in buying a Rouge Hermès Birkin. These red versions of the bag are available in limited Hermès showrooms around the world and there is a waiting list to buy one. These women assess who among them has the best fashion sense and is most “in” with international trends, based on who has the most number of Birkins, in which colour and leather, and bought from which cities of the world. Notwithstanding this sort of one-upmanship, they all agreed that Arab women are always a step ahead of them, buying not one but several Birkins, made of the most exotic leathers which are unavailable in the Indian subcontinent.

当这些女性讨论购买爱马仕红色铂金包的“兴奋”和耐心时，攀比的激烈程度令人震惊。这款红色的手袋在爱马仕为数不多的展厅里有售，在世界各地都有排队抢购的人。这些女性根据谁拥有的铂金包最多、铂金包的颜色和皮制、从哪个城市购买的等因素，来评估她们当中谁最时尚，谁最“紧跟”国际潮流。她们都认为阿拉伯妇女总是比她们领先一步，一出手就买上好几个，而且还是印度次大陆上没有的最特别的皮质。

Anxeties of travel

旅行的焦虑

For Indian super-rich families, a summer vacation abroad is a necessary signal of being part of the global elite. The super-rich women explained to me that since the middle class also travel widely nowadays, they need to develop strategies of distinction to set them apart from middle or upper middle-class Indians.

对于印度的超级富豪家庭来说，到国外度暑假是成为全球精英的必要标志。这些超级富有的女性向我解释说，由于如今中产阶级的出行范围也很广，她们需要制定一些与众不同的策略，把自己与印度的中上中产阶级区别开来。

The first strategy is to avoid, what one super-rich woman, Reena called, “touristy” destinations such as Barcelona, Rome or Singapore. Instead, the super-rich look for more “exotic” or expensive destinations such as St Moritz, St Tropez in France, or Bora Bora islands in French Polynesia. Reena explained that since these destinations are very expensive—with only five-star hotels and high-end restaurants—the Indian middle class are discouraged from visiting. Moreover, these destinations are also visited by the super-rich of other countries, so they offer a chance for the Indian super-rich to mingle with other global elites.

第一个策略就是避免去巴塞罗那、罗马或新加坡等“旅游胜地”。超级富豪会寻找更具“异国情调”或更昂贵的目的地，比如法国的圣莫里茨、圣特罗佩，或法属波利尼西亚的波拉波拉岛。由于这些目的地非常昂贵——只有五星级酒店和高档餐厅——印度中产阶级一般不会选择那些地方。此外，其他国家的超级富豪也会去往这些目的地，因此为印度的超级富豪提供了一个与其他全球精英交流的机会。

A second strategy is to make sure they wear visible, high-end brands on holidays. Aarti, another super-rich housewife, recalled that a salesman at a luxury shop in London once mistook her for a middle-class Indian tourist—someone who cannot afford branded clothes and only window shops. As a result, she told me the salesperson responded halfheartedly and rudely to her queries and Aarti believed this was because she was dressed casually and not wearing clothes from any high-end brands. She thought she’d been treated in this way not only because of her race and nationality, but also because the salesman didn’t see her as a member of the global elite who buy high-end fashion products.

Since this incident, she makes sure that when she goes shop anywhere in the world, she wears her Louis Vuitton or Gucci scarf, clothes from Burberry and carries her Louis Vuitton, Dior, or Chanel bag. She wants to be instantly recognised as wealthy.

第二种策略是确保他们在假期穿着显眼的高端品牌服装。另一位超级富有的家庭主妇Aarti回忆说，伦敦一家奢侈品店的售货员曾经误以为她是印度中产阶级的游客——买不起名牌服装，只逛不买。结果，那名销售人员对她的问题敷衍应付、粗鲁无礼，Aarti认为这正是因为她穿着随意，身上没有高级品牌。她认为自己受到这样的对待，不仅是因为种族和国籍，还因为销售人员没有把她视为买得起高端时尚产品的全球精英中的一员。

Adorning high-end luxury products, then, is not just about conspicuous consumption but also a way to assuage anxeties about not being recognised as elite in a global context. In a way, it seems that high-end luxury consumption, for these women, is a “membership fee” to be a part of a global network of elites.

从那以后，她在世界各地购物时，都会戴上路易威登或古驰的围巾，穿上巴宝莉的衣服，拎上路易威登、迪奥或香奈儿的手袋。她想让人们立刻认出她是个富婆。

因此，穿戴高端奢侈品不仅是炫耀性消费，也是缓解在海外不被视为精英的焦虑的一种方式。在某种程度上，对于这些女性来说，消费高端奢侈品似乎是跻身全球精英阶层的一份“会员费”。

美国雅虎网站读者评论：

译文来源：三泰虎    http://www.santaihu.com/49161.html       译者：Joyceliu

Rickyesterday

India is the poster child for wealth disparity.

印度是贫富差距的典型代表。

Shrlyesterday

The next new reality show: "The Real Housewives of Delhi." C'mon, you know it's coming...

下一个新的真人秀节目:“真实的德里主妇”。你知道的，它马上就来了……

Varunyesterday

The media is fixated on the Ambanis. Every time they talk about the super rich, they talk about Ambanis. Is there only one super rich family in India?

媒体都在关注安巴尼一家。每次他们谈到超级富豪，他们就会提到安巴尼。印度只有一个超级富豪家庭吗?

Dipak

An article about the rich, superficial & vain housewife. It could be a housewife of any nationality. Not just Indian.

这是一篇关于有钱、肤浅、虚荣的家庭主妇的文章。可以是任何国家的家庭主妇。不单单是印度人。

Tara

Millions suffer hunger and homelessness and super rich have no compassion.

数百万人忍饥挨饿，无家可归，而超级富豪却没有同情心。

G3

ambanis should launch a free for all brand of deodorants for his country men.

安巴尼应该为农村男子免费提供所有品牌的除臭剂。

Tony

Offensive at every level.

非常无礼。

Blablabla

No wonder the prices are doing up at the Quicky Mart.

难怪Quicky Mart的价格在上涨。

Jack

Unless you are traveling by private jet and armored car dressing to show your wealth makes you a target.

除非你乘坐私人飞机和装甲车旅行，否则炫富的着装会让你成为抢劫的目标。

who

When you hear any Delhi person speak especially the women from there...they sound cheap! The loud and obnoxous. No where near elite.

当你听到德里人说话时，特别是女人……她们说话没啥素质！吵闹、令人讨厌。绝对不是精英。

krish lall

sometimes rich is very poor in other areas.

India needs to stop its copycat mentality.

有时富人在其他方面也很贫瘠。

印度需要停止这种盲目跟风的心态。

Zeke D

95% of people in India don't have toilets. Why don't these wealthy people build toilets for their country?

95%的印度人没有厕所。为什么这些有钱人不为他们的国家建厕所呢？

peace

Don't they have any self respect?

难道他们没有自尊吗？

Rant

So they're just housewives? They don't work? They get their money from their hard-working spouses?

她们只是家庭主妇？她们不工作吗？她们的钱来自辛勤工作的配偶？

Active

Indians can never be egalitarians.

印度人永远不可能成为平等主义者。

Snake Pliskin

The stench of curry and b. o. are sure to follow

咖喱和烤肉的臭味一定会随之而来

David

India the country with no flushing toilets

印度这个国家没有冲水马桶

peace

I beg your pardon. But the elite are those with kindness and consideration towards other people. Money has nothing do do with being elite.

请原谅。但精英指的是那些对他人友善和体贴的人。金钱与精英无关。

FWS1700

I want back the 3 minutes I wasted reading this. Good grief...

我想追回我浪费在阅读这篇文章上的3分钟。好悲伤……

##

A good Indian family.

一个典型的印度家庭。

Sohani F

lol they have to wear loud labels to be seen as wealthy... such big egos for people with no self esteem whatsoever. Always want to act like they’re Arabs, light skinned... self hate is real

哈哈，他们必须穿戴大牌才能被视为富有……这些没有自尊的人是如此的自负。总想冒充阿拉伯人，喜欢浅肤色……果然是自我憎恨。

Ae

Money can't buy dignity nor class.

金钱买不到尊严和地位。

rishi

While millions starve in India due to being poor and in poverty, it is a shame that these of children of ultra rich use wealth accumulated at the expense of hard working common man to spend the foreign exchange for their fun instaed of hel the needy and poor.

当数百万印度人因贫穷而挨饿时，这些超级富豪的孩子却用普通人辛苦劳动换来的财富来享乐，而不是帮助穷人，这是一种耻辱。

Anarven

For these super rich ( I am sure they will be glad to be addressed as super-rich) everything is valued in terms of Money. They have inferior complexty which tells them that if they don't show off and spend money on luxury items/places then they will be seen with contempt by their peer super-rich families. 

对于这些超级富豪(我相信他们会很高兴被称为超级富豪)来说，一切都是以金钱来衡量的。如果他们不炫富，不把钱花在奢侈品/地方，他们就会被其他超级富豪家庭鄙视。

In such society one cannot be oneself. Each has to do or prove that they are above others and one way for people in rich category is to show that they can afford lot more than others in their category. 

在这样的社会里，人不能做自己。每个人都必须证明自己比别人优越，而富人的一种方式就是证明自己比同类人买得起更多的东西。

Of course this is not limited to super-rich class. This is common in rich, middle and upper middle class in class based society (India being very good example). Only lower and middle class people have to make choices that are within their financial means and be grounded in reality. Such class makes up 80% of Indian population. In India people evaluate and judge you based on how much you earn, how you are living, how much money you spend. Person's last names matters a lot. Upper class looks down on lower and middle class. Middle class looks down on lower class. Even within a class people compare based on last name, money, wealth (Money, home, car, clothes, color, lineage) and affluence. 

当然，这并不仅限于超级富豪阶层。在以阶级为基础的社会中，这在富人、中产阶级和上层中产阶级中很常见(印度就是一个很好的例子)。在印度，人们会根据你挣多少钱，你如何生活，你花了多少钱来评价你。一个人的姓很重要。上层社会看不起下层和中产阶级。中产阶级看不起下层阶级。即使在一个阶级内，人们也会根据姓氏、金钱、财富(钱、房子、汽车、衣服、颜色、血统)和富裕程度进行比较。

You cannot be yourself in India unless you are a foreigner. A white foreigner as soon as they are in India or otherwise immediately occupies a very very high class in India. This is because white is seen as very prominent personality and associating with them gives Indians very high visibility among their peers and others. 

除非你是外国人，否则你在印度不能做你自己。外国白人一到印度或其他地方，就立刻占据了印度一个非常非常高的阶层。这是因为白人有着非常突出的个性，与他们交往使印度人在同龄人和其他人中非常引人注目。

Goal is to be seen as rich, affluent, association with other upper class, that's what competition strives for in India. People forget that there are people (either rich or highly intellectual) in India who have sacrificed comforts, live simple life and moved away from competition (because they want to be themselves), but such people in India are not valued and are rejected as failures. In India you are compared on basis of what you have, how much you have and how affluent you are.

印度人的目标是成为富人，与其他上层阶级有联系。人们忘记了，印度有一些人(无论是富人还是高智商人士)牺牲了舒适，过着简单的生活，远离竞争(因为他们想做自己)，但这些人在印度不被重视，被人们视为失败者。在印度，人们根据你所拥有的东西、拥有多少和富裕程度来攀比。

If India's greats who toiled for freedom were to be alive today they would be shamed to be called Indians or live in India. India freedom fighter personalities such as Bal gandadhar Tilak, Mahatma Gandhi, Subbash chandra Bose, Dr. Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Maulana Abul KAlam Azad, Alluri Sitarama Raju, C. Rajgopalachari, Mrs. Naidu, and so many others lived by the mantra 'simple living and high thinking'. Note that these personalities were highly educated and wrote books of inspiration in high quality English that a rich person today may have difficulty gras.

如果那些为自由而奋斗的印度伟人今天还活着，他们会因为被称为印度人或生活在印度而感到羞耻。印度自由斗士如巴尔·甘达尔·提拉克、圣雄甘地、苏巴什·钱德拉·博斯、安贝德卡博士、巴加特·辛格、毛拉娜·阿布·卡拉姆·阿扎德、艾鲁利·西塔拉玛·拉朱、拉杰戈帕拉查里、奈杜夫人等人都信奉“生活简单、思想高尚”。请注意，这些人受过高等教育，用高水平的英语写了很多鼓舞人心的书，而今天的富人可能很难读懂这些书。

dfoxman

Who cares?????

谁在乎呢? ? ? ? ?

Garfield

I see Indians in California buying businesses that will cost half a million dollars in order to stay in the Country legally with a temp Visa so later they can become citizens. Buying businesses jut for decoration because they don't do businesses and these who do hire only their illegal Indians and these people work hard working as modern slaves just like most Indians work in their home Country. 

我看到印度人在加州购买企业，花费50万美元，以获得临时签证，合法地留在美国，这样他们以后就可以成为美国公民。购买企业只是为了幌子，因为他们不做生意，这些人只会雇佣非法印度人，这些人像现代奴隶一样努力工作，就像大多数印度人在他们的祖国工作一样。

peace

Poor little rich people.

可怜的小富人。

James

Wealthy Indians care more about what would people's impression about their extravagance would be rather than about putting up charitable causes to help billions of suffering poor. If he could uplift the lives of a few thousand people, then it is a good cause. But no. They want people to drool over their wealth.

印度富人更关心的是人们对他们铺张浪费的印象，而不是为帮助数十亿受苦的穷人而开展慈善事业。如果他能改善几千人的生活，那是一件好事。但是没有。他们希望人们对他们的财富垂涎三尺。

rick

Nobody cares about India or it's wealthy people,they live in their own bubble.

The only thing people know about India is that they don't have toilets.

没人关心印度或印度的富人，他们生活在自己的泡泡里。

人们只知道印度没有厕所。

RepubliKKKanzEqualHate

Probably one of the dumbest articles ever posted on here. Sounds so ridiculous to have to drape yourself in designer clothes, bags just to prove you are worthy.

这可能是我在这里发表过的最蠢的文章了。为了证明自己的价值，你不得不穿上设计师设计的衣服和包包，这听起来太荒谬了。

XX

After all it's about India. A starved nation and cheapest people in a world and the most unattractive people in a world. I have worked with well paid Indians, all they ate was a bowl of rice. They never invited themselves to a decent meal. Their problem is no matter how rich they get, because they come from hunger, they keep living in their past.

毕竟这是关于印度的。一个饥饿的国家，世界上最小气的人，世界上最没有吸引力的人。我曾与收入丰厚的印度人一起工作，他们只吃一碗饭。他们从不请自己一顿像样的饭。他们的问题是无论他们变得多么富有，因为曾经被饿怕了，还依然生活在过去的阴影中。

Just imagine India with all their billionaires yet they don't have a formidable charity organizations, still we American and others in the West have to help their poor. They are disgusting.

想象一下，印度有那么多亿万富翁，却没有强大的慈善组织，我们美国人和其他西方国家的人还得帮助他们的穷人。他们真是让人反胃。

外文链接：https://finance.yahoo.com/m/771a6318-be5b-3e3c-a277-3d7a5157f0e8/how-delhi%E2%80%99s-super-rich.html