Chapter 157 Funeral
"Ron! Do you know your factory?" Uncle Prash stuttered, looking excited.
"What happened to my factory?" Luo Enqi asked.
“Your factory is on TV!” Ratan yelled.
"Oh, that's true." Ron didn't know what to say.
"Soul Electric, what a great name! I recognized it at first sight last night!" The pride on Prash's face was comparable to the expression on his son Ratan's face when he got married.
Their new TV arrived yesterday. It has the only all-India TV station, so you don't have to worry about which channel to watch.
Then at around eight o'clock in the evening, the Soul Electric Appliances advertisement started playing on time.
The Ratan family watched with great interest. They even made a few jokes, thinking that "Sul" was a coincidence.
When he saw the water-cooling unit, Ratan realized that Ron had mentioned it to him before.
So in the morning, the father and son hurried to the city to find Ron, and even turned down a hemp deal for this.
But by then Ron had already brought people here, and after wandering around for half a day, they finally found the set.
"Oh my god, Ron, you did it! Your father would be so proud of you."
For rural landowners like Prash, being on TV is a great honor.
"Sul Electric was just established and is not a big company." Ron was very low-key.
"When you return to Mumbai, take Ratan with you and let him help you." Prash made the decision immediately.
"What?" Ron froze.
"You need help. To do things in India, the whole family must work together."
Ratan did not object to Prash's proposal, he thought it was a matter of course.
When one person succeeds, the whole family will prosper.
This is the case in India. If someone becomes rich, he has the obligation to lead his family to live a good life.
Ron's factory was featured on TV, which clearly means it has achieved success.
Ratan immediately gave up trying to convince Ron to grow hemp with him at home, and instead quickly prepared to go to Mumbai to help him manage the factory.
Ron was shocked by their decision. It was so sloppy that it seemed like playing house.
"Well, I do need help, but not in Bombay. Remember that branch factory I mentioned?"
"You want land, right? No problem, wherever you like, I'll get it for you." Prash took the responsibility.
"We'll talk about this in a couple of days. I need to get the theater done first."
"Okay, then I'll call Aditya and the others to see if I can help."
Ratan and his son came excitedly and left excitedly.
They were very excited. The Suer family had been silent in the countryside for so many years, and it seemed that a golden phoenix was finally about to emerge.
They will spare no effort to help Ron reach a higher level, so that the whole family will benefit.
Ron sighed as he looked at the two men's backs. India's clan system was even more outrageous than that of China.
When helping you, everyone does their best. Similarly, if you live a good life, you should not be ungrateful.
You can't even refuse this enthusiasm, because the values of the whole society recognize this bond. If you refuse or ignore your family, it will easily make you bear the stigma.
Fortunately, Ron wants to open a branch factory in Uttar Pradesh, which really requires the support of his family.
There are many things he can't handle by himself.
But before these things, there is another more important thing to do.
It is time for his parents' ashes to return to the embrace of the Ganges.
This was a more troublesome matter than he had imagined.
According to Hindu tradition, after a loved one dies, they are carried to the Ganges by male family members for cremation so that they can ascend to paradise.
All that was left of Ron's parents were their ashes, so the cremation step could be skipped.
But under the family's arrangement, there is still an extremely gorgeous rattan bed to place the ashes.
Ron and Ratan carried the front, and the uncles carried the back. The rattan bed was wrapped in gorgeous men's and women's clothing and covered with rose petals and jasmine garlands.
Several aunts walked around, clapping their hands and shouting, "Lord Shiva, your name is the only truth!"
They visited temple after temple and worshipped gods one after another, but the one they stayed longest at was the sun god Surya.
They passed through the alleys between temples and shops, and before they saw the Ganges, Ron smelled the odor of rotting corpses coming from the river.
He raised his voice: "The only truth!", and then he was choked and speechless.
The sound of chopping wood came from the banks of the Ganges. A wooden platform had been built on the cremation stone platform by the river, and it was piled with logs. Several people were chopping wood with axes.
The cremation stone platform led down to the river and was piled high with funeral pyres. When they arrived there were four bodies being burned on the steps.
The Sur family was a Brahmin family, so of course they didn't have to queue. They had already arranged the largest and most imposing stone platform in the river.
A specially hired Brahmin priest was waiting for them. After a long prayer, Ron began to scatter the ashes into the Ganges under the guidance of the priest.
A small white island in the middle of the river sparkled in the sun.
Groups of small boats full of tourists row towards the small island, which is a great place to photograph the scenery of the Ganges.
Tourists from all over the world flocked here. They had long heard of the holy city and had long been fascinated by cremation in the Ganges.
Taking photos is prohibited during cremation, but these tourists did not know the rules and kept clicking with their cameras.
The servants of the Suer family had been waiting at various locations for a long time, and they immediately stepped forward and asked them to delete the photos.
Some foreigners wanted to argue, but after seeing the various types of Nepalese knives, they all took out their film rolls.
After a little inquiry, I found out that this was a water burial held by a wealthy family nearby.
They might make a few sarcastic remarks in their hearts, but when they saw the dense crowds of servants nearby, they would shut up tactfully.
Uttar Pradesh is not Mumbai, especially the Varanasi area, which is known as the "Crazy East".
Outside the city, the earth here is blood-red.
Ron didn't pay attention to these, his eyes were attracted by the stone platform beside him.
It was also piled high with logs for funerals, and the river was constantly washing over the banks.
There was a huge mound of black earth, scattered with lily flowers, rose petals, silk fragments and charred bones.
A Shar Pei dog sniffed among the flower petals, cloth strips and bones, constantly digging for food.
Well, Ron was suddenly thankful that all that was left of his parents were their ashes.
What holy river? He really couldn't accept this strange cremation.
The shooting of "Hymn to Durga Puja" has already begun. Director Shiv first shot the scenery and then the people.
In his words, this makes it easier for the crew to get into the groove, and a team of more than 40 people also needs to get used to each other.
But since it was Mary and her team's first time as producers, they lacked experience and didn't hire enough people.
Director Shiv wanted to make a 13-meter-tall statue of Durga to appear frequently in the film.
Most of the crew went to help, and in the end the male lead Lanka took charge of the stage affairs himself, holding a cue board to help with the board.
"Why make such a big statue?" Ron asked puzzledly.
“Since the film will be released in rural areas first, there will have to be a lot of publicity for the new goddess,” Shiv is well aware of this.
Since it's a religious film, it has to focus on religion. If you want to attract rural Indians to the cinema, you have to include more things that interest them in the film.
"This must cost a lot of money, right?" Ron couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the busy crowd.
Although the new statue is made of plaster, the material is also an expense, not to mention hiring craftsmen from a nearby market to help.
“It won’t cost much,” Shiv shook his head proudly, “Those craftsmen are all followers of Durga, so they don’t ask for any reward.
After the filming is finished, the statue will be donated to the temple, and the master has promised us that he will not charge any venue fees."
Look, this is a qualified low-budget film director. Ron likes Schiff's awareness of saving money.
In fact, not only Schiff, but even the local producer has gone to extremes in saving money.
The movie tells the story of a vegetarian goddess, and the cast and crew eat only vegetables.
Every day, the crew's menu was filled with potatoes. They ate potatoes at every meal, and even put potatoes in yogurt.
Lanka, who had long been fed up with it, tried various methods of hinting, even composed a doggerel to satirize him, but after hearing it, the producer just blamed him for being full of complaints.
Some of the crew members were experienced on the set and had no qualms about fighting over food.
In Lanka’s words, “They rushed over, grabbed four or five pancakes, scooped up all the vegetables, and hid away with their plates.
We had to wait at the back of the line to see if there were any extra dishes to be served.”
The result is of course no. The shameless Indian natives would never wait in line like the rich second generation Lanka.
Mary couldn't stand it anymore and was about to improve the food for the crew, but was stopped by Ron.
If you say the budget is three million, it’s three million. Don’t let them get greedy. Otherwise, they will definitely treat you as a fat sheep to be slaughtered when they invest in you in the future.
The filming is still going on here, and the costume designer has caused some trouble over there.
"What happened?" Ron asked the producer.
"We don't have enough clothes prepared. We have to change the costume for the next scene."
“Why not prepare in advance?”
"The budget is not enough." The producer spread his hands.
"Do you remember the B&B you stayed in?" Ron suddenly had an idea.
"What?" the producer was puzzled.
"When I came here, I saw that there was a clothing fair going on over there. Send someone to pick out suitable clothes now, and return them after the shoot."
The producer was stunned. “What about the next few days?”
"Different people go every day. There are so many people on the crew anyway."
There are always more solutions than problems. Open your mind and this little thing will not be a problem at all.
Five minutes later, the producer took a few people on a bus to the city center. In order to facilitate the daily filming, the crew also rented an old bus.
300 rupees a day is a good deal. Apart from not driving fast, it can easily carry forty or fifty people.
"Mira, let's go eat Indian biryani tonight." Ron quietly went to find the heroine.
Urmila wanted to decline but her stomach was rumbling uncontrollably.
She is tired of eating potatoes every day.
(End of this chapter)
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