The haves and the have-nots

Couple of weeks ago, I attended one of the strangest press conferences ever. I say strange because for one, the press conference was held in the boss's apartment, right on the 68th floor of The Sail @ Marina Bay. I knew this the minute I stepped into the room, because everybody was sitting on plush sofas instead of your formal work-like black chair, drinking coke out of expensive crystal instead of your typical office mugs. Plus, there were personal ornaments around the house, such as family photos and an expensive CD player mounted to the wall.

The boss of the Indian conglomerate which called for the conference is a character by himself as well. Not only did he have a photo of himself on his desktop (who does that?), he would wear shades and a hat indoors, and never once did he take them off. Even when there was a point in time when we were all shrouded in darkness, save for the presentation screen.

And even as I was examining the personal photos that were on the wall or the corporate brochures, the boss was wearing the same hat every bloody single time. Perhaps it is a brand signature for him, but later on I asked Dave the very important question: "Do you ever think he keeps the hat on while he has sex?"

Just yesterday, the boss appeared in the newspaper again, because he had apparently made a very large donation to an Indian cricket club to play in Singapore. And if you didn't know who he was, the article kindly started off by reminding you that he was the flamboyant businessman who had stirred waves in the real estate market two years ago when he made the offer for the apartment where the press conference was held.

How much did he pay for the apartment?

$15.8 million.

I didn't finish reading the rest of the article, mostly because I wasn't very interested in learning about why he had sponsored the Indian cricket team or how he plans to raise the profile of cricket in Singapore..

But $15.8 million? Some people would need to work for several lifetimes just to earn that kind of money - and on the other hand, we have people who are currently living on less than US$1 a day.

Man, we are really living in a time where the divide between the haves and the have-nots just grow further and further apart.