Chapter 298 Beyond Imagination
Ron had never seen such a grand wedding before; it was completely beyond his imagination.
It seemed as if all the people in Madras had gathered together, and the entire street was blocked and no one could get through.
On September 7, Jayalalithaa's adopted son Sudhakaram married the granddaughter of famous Tamil film star Sivaji Ganesan.
As the groom's elder and nominal head of the family, Jayalalithaa's residence was used as the starting point for the groom's departure.
The wedding will take place at a Hindu Vedic temple, about five kilometers from Jayalalithaa's apartment.
Not to mention the various large teams, there are more than 30 police cars just for maintaining order, and all of them have red and blue lights on their roofs.
It's clearly misuse of public resources for personal gain, but no one cares.
Once outside, the luxuriousness of this wedding, destined to go down in history, was revealed.
The streets leading to the temple were already in a sea of festivity, with rose petals everywhere along the way.
Yes, rose petals, spread out for five kilometers.
From a distance, it looks like a rosy red carpet, so bright that it seems unreal.
Jayalalithaa stood on a car decorated as a Hindu chariot, similar to the ones in the Gujarat procession.
All political parties in India like to do this, bringing gods and religion into everything they do.
The convoy moved forward slowly, and people on the roadside kept throwing flower petals at the cars in the middle of the road.
The roof, hood, and windows of the car were covered with tiny petals, which turned into dust when the wheels rolled over them.
Do you think that's all? No, the rose petals are just a little extra.
There are glittering Greek columns on both sides of the road, hanging with colorful lights, shining brightly.
These columns were specially made for weddings and also spread over five kilometers, totaling six hundred.
Greek columns also feature ancient Indian princes in seductive poses, each one a different shape.
Ron, sitting in the car, took a closer look and thought that the sculpture should be made of paper, otherwise such a huge project would not be completed in a year.
"How many people are coming to the wedding today?" he was curious.
“I don’t know, there must be 100,000 people,” Kavya said enviously.
"Oh my God!" Ron was stunned.
He turned to look out the window. Both sides of the road were packed with people: reporters, police, and even more civilians, men, women, and children of all ages.
Most of them were poor people, and they crowded forward to join in the fun, all with their eyes wide open.
Is that look of envy, desire, and resentment?
"Newspapers in Tamil Nadu are saying that today's wedding will be the largest wedding in Indian history, enough to be included in the Guinness Book of World Records."
"That's not a good thing, dear," Ron warned.
"Why?" Kavya was puzzled.
“Your aunt is too pushy. This is her godson’s wedding, but the whole process revolves around her.
Looking at the extravagant display outside, it must have cost a fortune. It's hard not to think that the opposition won't miss this rare opportunity."
"Ron, this is India, everyone likes to have a big wedding."
“Yes, except for the Guinness World Records.”
Everything has its limits, especially for public figures. With the election coming up in a few months, this is simply handing leverage to opponents.
Ultimately, it was because Jayalalithaa was too arrogant. When she first reached the pinnacle of power, she had no way to vent her inner desires.
Perhaps she also wanted to show her influence to the outside world through this wedding. Indian people sometimes have admiration for important people.
But she forgot that this is Tamil Nadu, and people do not have a good impression of upper castes.
What they want to see is the improvement of ordinary people's lives, not the simple flaunting of wealth by some big shot.
The convoy drove for an hour to cover the five-kilometer distance.
As we approached the temple, the entrance to the wedding venue suddenly became visible.
It was a marble fortress gate topped with cannons and winged mythical creatures.
Obviously, this was specially prepared for the wedding and it is very grand.
All the guests coming and going entered the wedding venue from here. A 50-acre site was arranged at the entrance of the temple.
Well, 20 hectares, more than 300 acres, more than 200,000 square meters.
Kaavia said there were 100,000 people at the wedding, but Ron knew it was far more than that.
He happened to run into Malan, and the Poom TV people were there doing a live broadcast.
"How many people are attending the wedding today?" Ron asked.
"More than 150,000." Ma Lan wiped the sweat off her face.
He has obtained exclusive broadcasting rights for the wedding and is now staring at the monitor himself.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to promote Poom TV and attract users to subscribe.
"Who are they?" Ron's breathing slowed slightly as he looked at the crowded venue.
"There are all kinds of people: politicians, businessmen, relatives and friends, but the majority are my mother's supporters."
"Are they all dining here?"
"Yes, we are guests, and the seats have been set up long ago."
The so-called seats are actually a long carpet on the ground, with banana leaves placed at intervals on it.
That's everyone's tableware, densely packed. There are thousands of these carpets across the 50-acre site, each hundreds of meters long.
But it was a wedding after all, so the square was decorated with artificial fountains, sculptures, flower baskets and various other decorations.
Everyone sat directly on the floor, and the servants who served the food walked barefoot on the carpet, carrying buckets and adding sticky food to each banana leaf.
The first thing that came to Ron's mind was feeding pigs.
That's right, the breeder in the pigsty adds feed to the trough, and then a group of pigs stand and stick their heads in.
"Your TV has also played a big role!" Ma Lan smiled and pointed to the side of the seat.
Every two or three people there, there was a Sur color TV set up, and the screen was showing the live broadcast of the wedding.
Fifteen thousand people was too many to fit inside the temple, so ordinary guests could only watch the proceedings on TV outside.
See, money can accomplish anything.
Sur Electric provides the televisions, and Poom TV provides the live broadcast.
Not only the guests present at the wedding, but also everyone in Tamil Nadu who is watching Poom TV will see the grand spectacle of today’s wedding.
"What a generous move." Ron exclaimed.
"I heard that the venue alone cost 15 million rupees, and the food cost over 20 million, the highest in India!"
"What about the whole wedding?"
"There are always tens of millions of dollars."
Hell, at today's exchange rate, that could be a whopping sum of close to a billion rupees.
The total monthly profits of Soul Electric's four factories across India are only this much.
It's so arrogant that it's unreasonable.
"Are all these expenses paid by the woman?" Ron was curious.
"Who knows." Ma Lan shrugged with a smile.
According to Indian customs, it is the woman who organizes the wedding.
Even though the bride's grandfather is a movie star, this is a bit too much.
At least Ron knew very well that the money for purchasing the TV was not paid by the woman.
Those sitting outside are ordinary guests, most of whom are there to join in the fun and take advantage of the situation.
Important figures like Ron and Kavya naturally entered the temple.
Not to mention the various complicated rituals performed by the priests, many politicians present not only gave their blessings to the bride and groom, but also touched the feet of Jayalalithaa.
In full view of the public, many members of the opposition party prostrated themselves on the ground.
The pressure of the demigod is evident.
Jayalalithaa was all smiles as cameras and video cameras kept filming her.
It was exaggerated, very exaggerated, the bride and groom were completely overshadowed.
After completing the ceremony at the temple, they went to a five-star hotel in Madras for the wedding reception.
How could the nobles eat that kind of pig food?
Those on the ground are donated to ordinary supporters and the poor.
In the hotel, Ron also discussed a business deal with Malan and several Tamil cable TV companies.
Over the next year, anyone who purchases a Sur TV will receive a free quarterly subscription to Poom TV.
The cable TV operator is responsible for on-site installation, and the three companies jointly provide one-stop service.
As channel compensation, Sur Electric will take 10% of the TV station's first year advertising revenue.
To put it bluntly, Poom TV is leveraging the huge sales of Sur Electric to quickly acquire subscribers.
It is hard to say how many users will renew their subscription services after a quarter.
But those who remain are net profits, which is definitely much faster than Poom TV’s own promotion.
Well, this model is very instructive. When Ron was about to return to Mumbai, Sun TV did the same.
After the grand wedding, he stayed in Madras for a few more days and also visited Poom TV.
Just as Ron expected, the mainstream media in Tamil Nadu suddenly began to criticize Jayalalithaa for holding the wedding for her adopted son.
Needless to say, this is the work of the arch-rival DMK.
Jayalalithaa was very dissatisfied with the media reports and bluntly stated that this was discrimination against her female identity.
She claimed that the wedding cost only Rs 6 crore and was paid for by the bride's family.
Unfortunately, the voices of doubt are too loud and not many people believe it.
Many poor people even took to the streets holding banners in protest, demanding that the court review Jayalalithaa's assets.
This "grandmother" may have lost her mind and actually announced in a high-profile manner that she would donate 50,000 color televisions to a backward constituency.
When people protest against you, you use the TV to shut them up?
One stone stirs up a thousand ripples, and the situation escalates.
Ron was worried about her. Shouldn't she keep a low profile at this time?
Stay at home for a few days and the hype will naturally pass.
She is still playing the Enbi Network game.
This kind of thing is not suitable to be put on camera, and is even less suitable as a means of risk public relations.
Perhaps because she realized that public opinion was not right, Jayalalithaa finally learned to keep a low profile and stopped accepting interviews with reporters.
In order to avoid trouble, Ron also hurriedly left Madras and returned to Bombay.
Those TVs were of the Soul brand, and who knows if any reporter would dig up his secrets.
It's better to leave as soon as possible when you are in a place of trouble.
As soon as he returned to Mumbai, Ron sensed something unusual on the streets.
There are more police outside, this is South Mumbai.
Gangs rarely cause trouble here because the bigwigs all live nearby.
Central and northern Mumbai are where gang wars frequently occur.
Anil quickly went out to find out the situation, and found that there were many people left here.
After only a few minutes, he hurried back.
"What happened?" Ron asked.
"Master, it's the Dawood gang and Johnny and the others who are fighting."
"Um?"
"The news of Khad Khan's death has spread."
Ron understood that this was the gangs fighting for territory.
The underground black emperor of South Mumbai has disappeared, leaving a power vacuum, which is bound to attract the covetousness of the outside world.
This is not the end of the matter once Johnny resolves the internal disputes. The external enemies are the real danger.
(End of this chapter)
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