- Bill Gates visited the Statue of Unity in India before heading to Ambani's pre-wedding party.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally invited Gates to view the world's tallest statue.
- Ambani's three-day party was attended by tech CEOs like Gates and other celebrities.
Before he rubbed shoulders with the world's rich and famous at Ambani's pre-wedding party, Bill Gates was just a tourist in India.
Gates posted a photo on Instagram on Friday at the world's largest Statue of Unity in the Indian state of Gujarat. The towering monument to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the politician who helped reunify India after British colonial rule, is about 600 feet tall and was built by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2013.
While Gates appears to regularly take part in traditional tourism activities, the former Microsoft CEO said he was personally invited to see the statue by Modi himself.
Gates wrote on Instagram below a photo of himself grinning in front of the iron and bronze colossus: “Thank you @narendramodi for the invitation to the impressive Statue of Unity. It's a marvel of engineering. A wonderful tribute to Sardar Patel.” “It’s also great that it’s creating economic opportunities for local tribal communities, especially women.”
Gates was so inspired by the visit that he posted a follow-up video of his experience at the Statue of Unity, set to Queen's “Don't Stop Me Now.”
Gates also posed with the prime minister before discussing “the use of AI for the public good” with Modi, he captioned an Instagram post. Gates also subsequently met with several local leaders, according to his own social media posts.
But Gates has been making headlines for attending one of the biggest parties of the year so far, the Ambani family's pre-wedding party hosted by Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani. The soiree to celebrate her son Anant Ambani's wedding featured private performances by Rihanna and other celebrities from the business and Bollywood worlds.
