The newborn girl in Bollywood's first family resembles her mother Aishwarya Rai, revealed the proud grandfather Amitabh Bachchan hours after he brought the new member of the family to their bungalow in suburban Mumbai. "A newborn's features always keep changing, but I felt she looked like Aishwarya," he said.
He was sitting beside his actor son Abhishek — both men dressed in sparkling white kurta-pyjamas — at a press conference in the open courtyard at the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation office in Juhu on Tuesday evening.
The 38-year-old new mother and her as-yet unnamed baby girl, born on the morning of November 16, were discharged from Seven Hills Hospital at 3.30pm and brought to the Bachchan residence at Jalsa, located in the suburb of Juhu.
The baby was first taken to Prateeksha, the family's second residence in Juhu, to seek the blessings of her grandfather's late parents, the poet Harivansh Rai and Teji Bachchan. "Like they say, life changes when a new person comes into your home. Lakshmi [the Goddess of Wealth] has come to our house. We are all happy," said Bachchan.
The couple once lived in the bungalow, metres from the Bachchan corporation office. "We also have a small temple in the house and according to our family tradition, we took her there also," he said.
The new dad had launched a Twitter appeal, asking for name suggestions for the newborn. The child has been nicknamed Beti B, as per a friend's suggestion.
Amitabh, who completed the fifth season of the popular TV show Kaun Banega Crorepati last week, calls the baby "little one".
"All suggestions are welcome and we are receiving so many already," he said. He added that there was just one stipulation. "Aishwarya and Abhishek want the baby name to start with 'A'." Twitter fans have suggested Abirai, Ashwa, Anjal, Anika, Abiwarya and Ambia.
The baby girl, carried by her grandfather from the hospital ahead of her parents, is the 69-year-old veteran actor's third grandchild. Bachchan and his actress-politician wife Jaya became grandparents in 1997 when their daughter Shweta, who married into the Delhi-based industrialist family of Nandas, gave birth to a daughter, Navya Naveli, who was later followed by a son, Agastya.
Bachchan also praised his daughter-in-law Aishwarya for showing the courage to make the unusual decision to opt out of a C-section and go for a natural delivery - which stretched over two days - without any painkillers.
Earlier, speculative news reports had said Aishwarya opted for a C-section, with 11.11.11 as her date of delivery. However, Bachchan had laughed them off on Twitter.
"Aishwarya wanted a normal delivery. She did not use any epidural injections or any painkillers."
A beaming Abhishek said: "Ash is tired and very happy. The baby is very sweet and obedient. She does not cry much. I think the best blessing that a child can get is that the entire family was there when she was born. Both my parents and my in-laws were present."
Although he has a new film, Players, due out in early January, Abhishek said he would have more than enough time in his film schedule to devote to his daughter.
"I am the child of two actors," he said. "Neither of them had any problem spending time with me. I do not remember any occasion - school-day functions, plays, sporting activities - when my father and mother were not there for me. I never felt lack of parents' love while growing up. I had very good training from my parents. I think I will be able to cope," he said.
Senior Bachchan thanked the media for showing restraint in its coverage of the pregnancy and birth and respecting the family's privacy. He continued to deny reports he had any role in censoring the coverage in the form of a detailed circular issued to media ahead of the birth.
"I had no role to play in media underplaying the event," he said. "It was the Broadcast Editors Association that had decided that way. I had never told anyone at the Information & Broadcasting Ministry."
Media restraint was set aside during the press conference, however, as TV crews and photographers jostled to catch every word from the actors, trampling a portion of the well-maintained garden.
A fresh round of chaos prevailed minutes after the Bachchans finished addressing the media, when two street urchins who had clambered upon the three-metre-high wire mesh fence yelled "Aishwarya!"
Media crews, who had been packing up their equipment, rushed to catch a glimpse of the new mother inside the house. Dressed in a peach-coloured salwar-churidar and visibly tired, Aishwarya and her husband obliged the media with a much-awaited photo-op. However, pictures of the newborn, tweeted Amitabh Bachchan, are "not going to happen".
"Too personal ... you will understand ... thank you."
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
'Outclassed in Kuwait'
Taleb Alrefai,
HBKU Press
Profile box
Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
The%20National%20selections
%3Cp%3E6pm%3A%20Barakka%3Cbr%3E6.35pm%3A%20Dhahabi%3Cbr%3E7.10pm%3A%20Mouheeb%3Cbr%3E7.45pm%3A%20With%20The%20Moonlight%3Cbr%3E8.20pm%3A%20Remorse%3Cbr%3E8.55pm%3A%20Ottoman%20Fleet%3Cbr%3E9.30pm%3A%20Tranquil%20Night%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
On sale: now
Teaching in coronavirus times
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Elina Svitolina (UKR) [3] v Jennifer Brady (USA)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) v Belinda Bencic (SUI [4]
Not before 7pm:
Sofia Kenin (USA) [5] v Elena Rybakina (KAZ)
Maria Sakkari (GRE) v Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) [7]
Court One
Starting at midday:
Karolina Muchova (CZE) v Katerina Siniakova (CZE)
Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) v Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR)
Veronika Kudermetova (RUS) v Dayana Yastermska (UKR)
Petra Martic (CRO) [8] v Su-Wei Hsieh (TPE)
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) v Anett Kontaveit (EST)
The specs: 2018 Renault Koleos
Price, base: From Dh77,900
Engine: 2.5L, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 170hp @ 6,000rpm
Torque: 233Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.3L / 100km
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
All the Money in the World
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Charlie Plummer, Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer
Four stars
