10 Thousands of Applicants: Millionaire has promised a fortune for marrying a daughter
'16.03.2019'
Source: Lenta.ru report
In early March, durian tycoon Arnon Rodthong promised 10 million baht (over 320 thousand US dollars) to a man who marries his youngest daughter. When there were too many applicants, he decided to arrange a three-month tournament and select the best ones. "Lenta.ru report»I found out what came of it.
“Announcement: I am looking for a son-in-law,” Arnon Rodthong, an X-year-old entrepreneur from Thailand, wrote on Facebook. He had two sons and two daughters, but only one had a personal life. 58-year-old Karnsita graduated, lived in China, perfectly mastered English and Chinese, but could not find a groom.
“In all my life, I had only one young man,” she said in an interview. - I was then 22 or 23 of the year. He is from China, we have been together for about two years. ” After returning to Thailand, the girl worked at her father’s company, and for several years she didn’t have a single suitor.
Rodthong considered this a serious problem. He had long been going to retire and wanted to transfer the business precisely to Karnesite. He was stopped only by her lack of family. The millionaire's patience was running out. “To wait until someone decides to marry her is too long,” he explained at a press conference. “The groom is needed immediately.”
In order to marry his daughter as soon as possible, Rodthong promised the future son-in-law a rich dowry - 10 million baht (320 with odd thousand US dollars). In addition, immediately after the wedding, the newlyweds will inherit his business, whose value is estimated at millions of dollars. The Straits Times publication claimed that the durian tycoon’s son-in-law would also get a house and ten cars.
Sin Soda
For Thailand, such a proposal is especially unusual. In this country, the tradition is still alive, which requires paying a bride price - the so-called "sin-sod." The groom's parents agree on its size with the bride's family before the wedding. The amount may depend on the social status, education, occupation and other qualities of the girl.
A ransom for a bride with a prestigious profession or from a wealthy family is noticeably higher than for a poor or uneducated. If the woman was already married or has a child, the price is reduced. To marry a son to a middle-class girl with a higher education, his parents will have to pay from 100 to 300 thousand baht (from 3200 to 9600 dollars).
Today, a serious attitude to synodice has survived only in the Thai outback. In cities, the bride price is rather symbolic. At the wedding, money is still shown (tradition is a tradition), but then they are given to the newlyweds or returned. Sometimes it takes funny forms: for example, in the city of Chiang Mai, a company operates, where bundles of money for a wedding are rented.
When Rodthong promised his fiancé millions (and not vice versa, as is customary in Thailand), he turned the old custom upside down. However, such cases have already happened. In 2012, Hong Kong billionaire Cecil Chao went against a similar Chinese tradition and promised 65 a million dollars to a man who could charm his daughter Gigi.
Chao could not accept the fact that his daughter was a lesbian and wanted to bring her to reason. 20 was responded to by thousands of people, but none of them managed to succeed. In the same year, Gigi married a woman from France, with whom she met for nine years.
The billionaire did not give up and two years later he raised the promised reward to 120 million dollars. In an open letter published by the South China Morning Post, her daughter advised him to accept it. After that, Chao reluctantly canceled the competition. “I understand that he loves me,” commented Gigi. “He’s just a man from another era, and it’s hard for him to understand the difficulties of LGBT people.”
durian
Arnon Rodthong is considered the largest durian wholesaler in Chumphon - the southern province of Thailand, which is located on a narrow isthmus connecting the country with Malaysia. Every day, his firm resells from 40 to 50 tons of durians that are grown by local farmers.
Durian is famous for its strong unpleasant smell, which can be smelled for a few hundred meters. “From habit, it seems that he stinks of rotten onions, but those who tried it prefer durian to any other food,” wrote English naturalist and traveler Alfred Russell Wallace at the end of the 19th century. Since then, nothing has changed: some are trying to stay away from durian, others are willing to pay big money for it.
Durian is forbidden to carry in Singapore public transport because of the stench, which then can not be removed for several days. The fruit was exhibited in the Swedish museum of disgusting food next to an Icelandic dried shark, from which it was smitten with ammonia and rotting herring superstreme. And in the 2018 year, due to the terrible smell coming from the forgotten durian in the closet, the university of the Australian city of Melbourne was evacuated.
Connoisseurs, however, also missing, and they are becoming more and more. Some varieties of durian are more expensive than 20 dollars per kilogram. This means that the cost of one fruit can reach 65 dollars. Not surprisingly, in Thailand, where 700 is grown thousands of tons of durians per year, this fruit is so appreciated. In 2016, he brought 495 million dollars to the economy of this country. Part of this amount is in the pockets of Arnon Rodthong.
Requirements
Rodthong believes that his future son-in-law must love durian. Otherwise, it will be of little sense. “I just need a good, hard-working and diligent man,” explained the millionaire. - Without addiction to gambling or something like that. And that's all - the rest I already have. "
Durian tycoon emphasized that he did not care about the formation of possible suitors of his daughter. “You don’t have to be particularly smart, you just need to be able to read and write,” Rodthong announced in his very first post on Facebook. “And please, you do not need to carry me your diplomas, there’s no need to litter the house.” According to him, he himself graduated from only four classes of high school. This did not prevent him from making a fortune.
Karnsita claims that her father did not even warn her about his undertaking. “I learned about his post from friends,” she admitted in an interview. “I was surprised, but there is a funny side to that too.” The girl says that no one is going to force her to marry by force: “The final decision will be mine. Dad just wants to help with the pre-selection, but ultimately I will choose the groom, because the main thing is that we get along. "
“I'm not picky,” said Karnsita at a press conference. - I just want a man with whom you can go to parties and take selfies. I myself am not particularly beautiful, so any external data will come down. ” After that, she joked that she could spend the promised millions on plastic surgery in South Korea.
Applicants
Rodthong definitely did not expect that his post would cause such a violent reaction. On the very first day several hundred people turned to him - and this was only the beginning. When the search for the groom for Karnsita was reported in the press, thousands of people from all over the world began to call the durian trader.
One of the candidates promised to fly to the bride on a specially rented business jet. To the surprise of the millionaire, turned and women. They wondered if he was planning to arrange a similar competition for the position of mistress or second wife.
The most popular contender for the hand and heart of Karnsite was a young Thai farmer, Premazapon Hongsai. “I'm 28 years old, and my family also breeds durian in the province of Trat,” he wrote in a commentary on Rodthong. - We have more 300 trees ... I can take the sun and the rain, I can drive a tractor and a five-axle tractor. Please think of my candidacy, Papa Arnon. ”
In just a few days, the comment scored 14 thousands of likes. Karnsita admitted to reporters that she finds him quite sweet. My father was of a different opinion: “Premacapon is no good because it is too beautiful. He can break my daughter's heart. ”
Tournament
To cope with the influx of volunteers, the millionaire offered to arrange a contest that would eliminate insufficiently resistant suitors. Applicants had to prove their hard work with free work on a durian plantation. “Take plenty of clothes with you, you have to work for three months,” Rodthong warned. - If more than two boyfriends stand it, then another three months beyond that. That should be the partner I want for my daughter. ”
The contenders continued to arrive, so the millionaire capitulated on March 6th and canceled the competition. By that time, the number of applicants exceeded 10 thousands. According to Rodthong, he could not physically accept so many people. In addition, the hype began to interfere with the work. “It caused a lot of damage to our business,” he says. “We have only one telephone line, which is busy all the time, and customers cannot reach us.”
This was not the only problem. “My wife is terribly angry with me,” Rodthong says. “She hasn’t spoken to me since it all started, because she’s against such an advertisement for our daughter.”
Opinion Karnsity also changed. “Love is not instant,” she said. - First, people need to know each other. And for this you need to meet and spend time together, rather than compete in a tournament. ” Now 10 million baht will go to the one she chooses herself.
