Photos of ‘Kabootar Khana’ chawl where Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani once lived in one room, 1 bathroom for 100 persons

Mumbai: The Ambanis need no introduction. The billionaire family often makes headlines, either due to their business acumen, fashion sense, style statement, dressing sense, or hosting grand parties. According to the media reports, the Ambani family recently hosted a grand birthday celebration for Bollywood actor Salman Khan. Presently, Mukesh Ambani resides in his iconic home, ‘Antilia,’ while his brother Anil Ambani lives in his luxurious residence, ‘Abode.’ However, their journey to these billion-dollar mansions started in a humble Mumbai chawl.

Photos of ‘Kabootar Khana’ chawl where Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani once lived in one room, 1 bathroom for 100 persons

A family of seven shared a single room, with one toilet serving 100 people. Residents of the chawl often stood in long queues for water, a reality for the 500 people who lived there. While Mumbai’s chawl life is often depicted in films, the Ambani brothers experienced it firsthand for many years.

Recalling his childhood memories on Simi Garewal’s show, Rendezvous with Simi Garewal, Anil Ambani became emotional. It was the year 1959 when Dhirubhai Ambani left his job at a petrol pump in Yemen and returned to India. The Ambani family had shifted from Gujarat to Mumbai. They had no steady income, and Dhirubhai Ambani was somehow managing the family’s livelihood by selling spices.

The Ambani family once lived in a densely populated area in Mumbai called Kabootar Khana. This locality had a chawl named Jai Hind Estate, which housed over 500 people in a single building. The Ambani family resided on the fourth floor of this building. The area earned its name, “Kabootar Khana,” due to the large number of pigeons that gathered there. People would feed the pigeons, resulting in flocks of them occupying the area.

The Ambani family of seven lived in a tiny one-room house with a single kitchen on the fourth floor of the chawl. There was no bathroom in their house, and a common bathroom was shared by 100 people. Long lines formed for drinking water, and the family somehow managed to get by in these difficult conditions. They didn’t have enough clothes, so the duo brothers Mukesh and Anil Ambani often swapped and wore each other’s clothes.

The Jai Hind chawl, where the Ambani family lived, was the largest chawl in that area. Their home had no bathroom. Each floor had reportedly over 100 houses, all sharing just one toilet.

Later in the interview, Anil stated that the most special day of the week during their childhood was the weekend. The entire family eagerly looked forward to the weekend. It was on Sundays that Mukesh and Anil Ambani would get the chance to play football. Dhirubhai Ambani would take the children to Udupi restaurants, where there was a fixed menu of idli-sambar. They weren’t allowed to order anything beyond that.

Due to Dhirubhai Ambani’s hard work and talent, Reliance Industries was founded, leading to billions of dollars in wealth for Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani. Today, Mukesh Ambani owns Antilia, one of the world’s largest homes worth Rs 15,000 crores, while Anil Ambani resides with his family in Abode, a Rs 5,000 crore property.