UAE | General
XPRESS impact: Pottengal Ahamed gets his million dirhams
Pottengal Ahamed gets his million dirhams after XPRESS report; plans to celebrate at cafeteria where he washed dishes for 18 years
- By Mazhar Farooqui, Deputy editor, XPRESS
- Published: 00:00 February 2, 2012
- Image Credit: © XPRESS/Sankha kar
- Pottengal Ahamed visited XPRESS office to thank the newspaper after getting the Dh1 million cheque
DUBAI: Pottengal Ahamed's four-month wait for his prize money has ended. Three days after XPRESS highlighted his plight, National Bonds called him to their office and handed him a cheque for Dh1 million.
"I can't thank XPRESS enough. I had been waiting for this moment for months," said Ahamed, who came to this newspaper's office to share the "good news".
He plans to celebrate by taking his friends out for dinner at the same cafeteria where he spent 18 years washing dishes.
Ahamed quit his Dh1,300 waiter's job after being declared winner of the National Bonds millionaire draw in September last year, but couldn't claim the prize money due to a miscommunication. With barely any money left to survive and the time clock on his visa fast running out, Ahamed was all set to fly back to his home country, India, when XPRESS brought his story to the attention of National Bonds CEO Qasim Ali Ali.
E-mail statement
He swung into action immediately. In an e-mail statement to XPRESS, Al Ali expressed surprise over the "misunderstanding" and promised to help Ahamed "redeem" his prize.
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Since Ahamed doesn't understand English and speaks broken Hindi, National Bonds got a Malayali speaker to communicate with him in his native language.
On January 29, he was called again. This time he was handed the cheque, which Ahamed immediately deposited in his bank account.
But the enormity of the prize money is yet to dawn on him. Ahamed took a public bus to the XPRESS office "because taxis are expensive" and he is still worried about settling a Rs200,000 (Dh15,000 approximately) bank loan in India.
He isn't buying any lavish gifts for his wife and three children back home in Kerala either as he fears he might run short of money. "I am flying to India early next week. I have got some clothes for them and that's about it. I will start a grocery in Dubai when I come back and will need all the money. One has to spend wisely, you know," he said.
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