Club membership or status symbol?

Mumbai is a city of dreams. No, it is a city of the riches and unfortunately, looks like, for the riches alone. When a person joins a club, it is simply for recreation, leisure and practicing one’s hobbies. It usually is not or should not be a symbol of one’s status or asset. 

The city’s heritage Breach Candy Club recently opened its membership gates after seventeen years and to be their exclusive, prestigious member you have to pay a whopping Rs.1.2 crore. And, even if you have the money, the membership is by invitations only. This is not the only club in the city charging such outrageous rates, The Willingdon Club asks for around Rs.50 lakh as an admittance charge and a fee of Rs.12,000 annually.

All this, for swimming in a large pool or reading in a well-stocked library and playing games- the cost at which you can buy a house in the suburbs of Mumbai; seriously, prestige or not, rich or not, is it worth the membership? Obviously, is not about lounging at the club; it is only about flaunting your membership, another status symbol?