Getting high

We're now apparently building the tallest residential building in the world. That's nice

We're now apparently building the tallest residential building in the world. That's nice.u00a0 Till then, it will be Dubai. The Burj Khalifa, and just to make sure nothing could come close, the architects hammered in the point with another 40-foot pointy arrow thing which serves no purpose except to make the thing taller. Now if that's counted as cheating, and it should be, the earnestly-titled "One World", here in Mumbai, hopes to rival that.u00a0

Today, the Taipei 101 in, well, Taipei, comes in 3rd, then the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, The HSBC Tower in Hong Kong and The People's Bank Of China in Beijing. None of these, as you've already noticed are in the developed world. The last time the west had any interest in building high was in the late 70s with the Sears Tower in Chicago. The Empire State Building in New York, the once shining beacon of the heights of human achievement, is today one of the averagely tall buildings in the world, struggling to squeeze into the top 10.u00a0

Now one may think that this has something to do with the progress of these new economies, that as they become world powers, their tallest buildings become a sort of macho symbol of their (literal) rise. But it has less to do with the West becoming poorer, which it may or may not be, and more to do with them just not caring anymore.

In the '70s, how high you went was a symbol of how rich your country was. That's what was made fashionable. It made sense that the Americans built the World Trade Towers, The Wrigley Building in Chicago, Sears, and San Francisco's Trans-America Pyramid. Even the Europeans, who thrived on stone castles and old stuff got into the theme. The terrorists used that logic to target The World Trade Center, that if they could bring down two of the tallest American buildings, they could somehow symbolise bringing down her might.u00a0 And as a symbolic gesture, people in the developing world understood what harm was meant. But that symbol meant less to Americans because some time in the '90s, they stopped associating height with might. Either they lost interest or it was not worth it anymore. So for the last 15-20 years, as the west started pushing little compact eco-friendly four-storey buildings that conserve energy, we, the new world, were left with the philosophy of building higher to show we've arrived. Except, no one is playing with us.u00a0 It's like when the gambler who was winning walks away from the table just when you've shown up to challenge him.

And it's not unique to tall buildings. The same is true for revolving rooftop restaurants. Again, a big symbol of luxury from the 70s, fancy hotels had them. By the time India had revolving rooftop restaurants, the concept had become cheesy, the west told us. Yet, there are still (and I salute you) an honourable few who climb to the top of some local hotel, rotate and dine, fighting the idea that you can change a fashion so easily.

The newest target is cars. New economies that have come into money see cars, really nice ones, sports ones, SUVs, as social standing in motion. That's what Hollywood told us. That's why Porsche showed up and mileage-unfriendly BMW here outsells any other luxury car. So after years of spreading the propaganda of a fancy car= fancy life, the west now says cycling is cool, little hybrid cars that look embarrassingly like moving refrigerators, are cool.

Ergo, someone who got rich in New India will drive from his One World Penthouse in his BMW to a cool revolving bar and his foreign friends will laugh at him for being behind unfashionable. And he will wonder, what do I do to win in life if the sport keeps changing?u00a0

Anuvab Pal is a Mumbai-based playwright and screenwriter. His plays in Mumbai include Chaos Theory and screenplays for Loins of Punjab Presents (co-written) and The President is Coming. He is currently working on a book on the Bollywood film Disco Dancer for Harper Collins, out later this year. Reach him at www.anuvabpal.com

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