Meeting the Ambani’s
Sometimes a couple of moments in life can leave a huge impact, just because of how extraordinary they were. I met Mukesh Ambani and his daughter Isha Ambani in a cafe in Lichtenstein. Such an opportunity might not repeat in this life, so I decided to document every thought of this incident.
So let’s get back to all what led to the event:
Mr Sundar Pichai gave us one extra holiday on Friday to unwind from the busy yearly perf times. That gave me 3 non-working days and with that in hand, I thought of stepping out for a bit. I was looking for places to hike and even shortlisted a few. In the meanwhile got a ping from Madhu and she suggested Lichtenstein as we could cover a new country in just one day.
Lichtenstein is one of the smallest countries in the world spread over 25km with a mere population of 38000. It is just a 2h train ride from Zurich and the sheer proximity and accessibility kept putting it on the back of the list of things to do.
We had decided to leave around 9 AM, however I ended up binge-watching Money heist the night before and couldn’t get up early in time to make aloo sandwiches(🤪) for the journey. So we left a little later and arrived at 12. We got souvenirs and passport stamps the first thing.
Lichtenstein city centre is around 500m away from the Vaduz bus stop, so we decided to visit a couple of famous spots. It was an unusually hot sunny day so after visiting the Lichtenstein castle, which was a 20m walk uphill we were already drained of energy.
Lichtenstein centre looks like a typical European square but given it is such a small country, it had only one Pizzeria, one Bar, one Watch shop and so on.
We were exhausted and so we were drawn to the only American cafe in the country in search for shade and cold coffee. I think this typical Indian choice might have led us to that big moment!😉
We spent a couple of hours there until it was a bit cooler outside. There were only a couple more locals apart from us. Around 4 PM we got up to leave, which is when I saw Mukesh Ambani, one of the richest man in the world(#6 world and #1 Asian) open the door followed by his daughter Isha Ambani. I nudged Madhu who was facing away to get a hold of reality, and she was equally astonished. Isha was in athleisure and Mukesh was dressed in a suit.
We were standing close to the entrance door, me and Madhu were the only two people(of 1.35 billion Indians) who would recognize them in a breath. They both grew conscious of presence of the fellow Indians. Isha walked straight past us and I was surprised and gazing back and forth when Mukesh turned towards us, made eye contact and we exchanged the Hello!
We were in splits if we should be the crazy ones to go and ask for pics of celebs. But we came to the conclusion fairly quickly that this was a once in lifetime opportunity! So we gathered some courage and decided to go and ask for the picture while they proceeded to the cafe counter. I am not sure about Madhu but I was shivering all this time.
The small cafe was managed by a single barista who was very polite and helpful. Isha and Mukesh Ambani were still giving their coffee orders to her. I realized I didn’t have time to prepare for what to say to the Ambanis so I walked up to the counter and asked the barista where we should leave our trays. In public speaking this is called warming up 😁, which probably may have helped shed 7% nervousness off of my words.
I thought it was best not to interrupt the daughter-father conversation. Isha was paying for the two coffees and pulled out a 20 Swiss Franc note. The bill amount was 17 CHF so there were coins involved in the transaction. Mukesh mentioned to Isha how he had earlier said something about using/getting a card. I had just witnessed a very “common man” transaction with uncommonly powerful people.
We already said Hello so why waste time of one of the richest man in the world in formalities! Once they got their coffee, we finally asked if we could take a picture.
I gave the camera to Madhu so we could each get a photo one by one, this is when Isha generously offered to click the picture instead! Not just that, Mukesh and Isha kept their coffees on the table saying “let’s get the coffees out of the picture”. They cared about our picture!
I asked him if he was there for business and he mentioned he was on his way to SECRET-PLACE-X for the next big deal (Sorry I need to keep that to myself for obvious reasons! 😉).
He actually in turn asked us if we lived “here” and how we found living there. Madhu got that one. I was still at a loss of words and managed to say “We are very honored to meet you here and Thank you!”. I guess that may have brought that smile on his face 😊!
They left the cafe to join rest of the family. Nita Ambani was standing outside dressed in a white kurta with pink flowery border and leggings. She was accompanied by a mask-clad local guy, who I assume was their driver.
That was it about the meeting. However for Madhu and I, the next three hours were spent coming to terms with what had transpired, thinking and rethinking of how those 3 min could have played out. What else we could have said and done.
We didn’t ask them about Jio, about their latest deals with FB/Google et al, about what’s their next big plan. We didn’t have a chance to congratulate Isha about Jio and her anniversary(which I figured was pretty recently). We didn’t thank them for revolutionizing telecommunications in India. Oh, we could have asked them to let us know when they are in town next time and we would be glad to welcome them with chai and Poha!
In this short tête-à-tête I learned a lot.
How simple a father-daughter relationship can look like even for a billionaire. How they also go and just get coffee sometimes(if possible) without necessarily buying a village. They didn’t hire help to get the coffee.
They also carry 20 CHF notes and know how to deal with change.
Most importantly, I was touched that he asked about us, how we are and how we found living here. My mother says the bigger the person, the more humble they are and Mr Mukesh Ambani personified the example for me. Keeping the coffee mug aside to make it a perfect picture for us was another grand gesture! Mukesh’s attire and conduct were very very simple.
Besides this everyone back home was elated and excited. The life is back to normal, but this special moment will always stay with us.
Remember remember,
the 5th of September,
I met the Ambani’s that day,
a very very special Teacher’s day.
Last but not the least, a big thanks to Madhu for making that plan and I am truly honored to be in the frame with two celebrities!
Parting thoughts: May be one day I will also meet SRK on this dreamland of many Indians. Magic happens. Life is the biggest teacher. 2020 period.
