Weddings in Kerala are witnessing a trend where they are getting more and more expensive, especially if the bride or groom happens to come from an influential family. Bucking the trend however, ace investor Porinju Veliyath, who manages a portfolio of over Rs 1,200 crore, recently married off his son at the sub-registrar office. Avoiding an ostentatious wedding ceremony, the only expense he incurred was for buying two computers for the registrar’s office.
On Tuesday, he posted a tweet which said, “My son, @sunnyporinju just got married today; the sub-registrar has requested for couple of computers for office - the only wedding expense.”
My son, @sunnyporinju just got married today; the sub-registrar has requested for couple of computers for office - the only wedding expense pic.twitter.com/KBuv7Nc5m5
— Porinju Veliyath (@porinju) October 3, 2017
On being asked why he decided to have a simple wedding for his son, Porinju Veliyath told TNM, “See, that is normal. Even I got married like that. People do things according to their knowledge and wisdom.”
“I posted the picture from the registrar’s office itself. It was just a casual mention. I don’t want to give too much importance to it,” he added.
“Actually, my son lives in the US. When he came here, he told me he wants to get married on short notice, since he had to go back for an assignment. The bride was okay with that, and so we conducted an ‘emergency’ wedding,” the father added.
To a question on whether he had always planned for a simple wedding for his son, he said, “I don’t even think about all these things. I live life as it comes. There is no predetermined planning and I do things instantly and spontaneously. A lot of people listen to me because of this. I don’t try to please people.”
Porinju Veliyath is founder and CEO of a company called Equity Intelligence. A law graduate, he fell in love with equities in 1990 and is today one of the most revered small-cap stock pickers in the country as per a report in moneycontrol.
That a rich man like him decided to go the simple route for his son’s wedding was appreciated by many on social media.
Best wishes...This is a nice example for the land were crores are spent for wedding parties..Best wishes
— Dr ALLEN BABY PHD (@drallenbaby) October 3, 2017
Like father, like son—no surprise @sunnyporinju well keeps d tradition of simplicity, humbleness& role models. Long live& happy married life
— Singaraju (@Singaraju_R) October 3, 2017
Invest money of wedding in equity and mutual funds.
— Manesha (@Manesha76) October 3, 2017
I m sure this is your statement
Great to see Your simplicity
— Madhav Mundhra (@MADHAVMUNDHRA2) October 3, 2017
Eye opener for all
Congratulations to entire family . Hats off . Today, example has been set up for many billionaires
— Nishchint Sharma (@nishchintsharma) October 3, 2017
Wish him a happy married life and congrats him for setting an example who waste so much extra money only for show off ..
— Annu Aggarwal (@annu_aggarwal) October 4, 2017
Salutes! It's a "Misaal" or a grt exmp for the society..a paradigm shift..Inspiration for BF(Boy's father)/GF(Girl's father) of new India
— Manish Prasad Sinha (@_mpsinha) October 4, 2017
In June this year, the wedding of the daughter of CPI MLA Geetha Gopi had come under criticism. Several images of Geetha’s daughter decked up for the wedding, donning a huge amount of gold jewellery, went viral, which led to the MLA facing heat from her own party workers. The wedding was conducted at the Poonthanam auditorium at Guruvayur in Thrissur, and many felt that the flamboyance of the wedding was unbecoming of a communist leader.
In December 2016, Kerala liquor baron and politician Biju Ramesh’s daughter married Congress MLA Adoor Prakash’s son in a grand ceremony. The wedding was as lavish as it gets with 20,000 guests filling the venue at Rajdhani Gardens in Venpalavattom, Thiruvananthapuram. There was also a replica of the Mysore palace and Akshardham temple.
In November 2015, NRI businessman Ravi Pillai had planned an expensive Rs 55-crore wedding for his daughter that was held in Kollam district. Ravi Pillai is considered one of the richest Keralites with a net worth of $2.8 billion (approx. Rs 1858.8 crore). His business roots are in Gulf countries where he owns 26 companies with over 80,000 employees.
Around 30,000 guests were expected to attend the ceremony inside a 350,000-sq ft pandal modelled on Rajasthan's palaces, as per a Times of India report. The wedding pandal was reportedly made by a team of 200 professionals. The festivities were planned by Sabu Cyril - the production designer of the multi-lingual hit ‘Baahubali' and according to him, the wedding set was larger than the one he made for the epic film.