No. 3. Indecent Exposure.
If you want a home with a panoramic view of the skyline, by all means build a 27-story skyscraper for your residence.
That's what India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd., did when he built what's believed to be the world's most expensive home in Mumbai. Antilia, the $1 billion, 400,000-square-foot home named after a mythical island, has nine elevators, a 50-seat theater, ballroom and helipad. The spa is complete with lap pool, sauna, yoga and dance studios and a juice bar.
The first six floors of the building are dedicated to a parking garage-just for the Ambani family, guests and domestic help.
With an estimated half of Mumbai's residents living in slums, it shouldn't be hard for Ambani, his wife and three children, to find a suitable staff of 600 to serve them.
No. 4. Planes, Trains and Helicopters.
While it's still customary in some parts of Asia for a bride's family to offer a dowry to the groom, it's not every day the husband-to-be gets a $4 million Bell 429 helicopter.
The wedding itself cost anywhere from $22 million to $55 million, according to press reports, making it the most expensive on record.
The son and daughter of two wealthy, well-connected Indian families celebrated their nuptials over a seven-day period with 2,000 of their closest friends.
"The froth does seem to be forming again among the Dom Perignon set," Robert Frank, who writes the Journal's Wealth blog, said in an e-mail.