Dubai: It’s 10.20pm on February 7 and Ann, 25, is lying down in her Bur Dubai studio apartment. Her cell phone rings but she doesn’t take the call as she has a high fever. She puts it on mute and tries to go back to sleep. But the unknown number flashes again.
Irritated, she decides to answer the phone. The caller identifies himself and wants to know if she can hear the “noise” behind him. He asks her if she is seated and whether she is working.
When a confused Ann replies in the affirmative, the man tells her: “There is no need for you to go to work from tomorrow. You have won the mega DSF raffle of 20 kg of gold … It’s worth Dh3 million.”
Ann can barely speak. Her inaudible “Oh my God” prompts the man to ask if she is okay and if she can hear him.
“I freaked out and began to cry,” Ann told XPRESS, recollecting the first few moments of her magical win.
A Keralite born and raised in Kenya, Ann works as a structural cable engineer in Dubai. She said she received a pair of gold anklets as a gift on her 25th birthday on January 21 and ended up with more than what she could possibly bargain for.
“Manu, a friend, gifted me the gold anklets. The purchase was made at Kalyan Jewellers and was eligible for three coupons. They had apparently been filled out in my name. But funnily enough, I thought I saw only one coupon in the bag when I received the gift. I had even joked about it. It was only after the raffle was announced that I looked for the other two coupons and they were very much inside.”
Tomy Joseph, General Manager, Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group, told XPRESS that the 20 kg of gold would be presented this week.
Overwhelmed
Ann said she is yet to come to terms with the enormity of her win. “The news hasn’t really sunk in. It’s too overwhelming and I am not used to this kind of attention.”
The only child of her parents, she said: “I am a student of the Sacred Heart School in Kilimala and went on to do my higher studies at the IHRD College at Karunagapally, Kerala. My friends and family of over 40 cousins have been flooding me with congratulatory messages on my WhatsApp.”
Ask what she plans to do with the prize money she says she has a fair idea. “I always wanted to win a lottery ticket for one overriding reason: to buy a dream car for my father who lives in Kenya. So that will be the first thing on my agenda, besides travel. I asked my mother what she would like and all she wanted was my happiness.”
With tears welling in her eyes, Ann, who is single, recalled how she almost lost her mother a few years back.
“She had a heart issue and I thought I lost her. But she miraculously survived and is cherishing these special moments with me today. I am so grateful as my parents mean the world to me.”
Determined to keep her job, she said: “At times like this, it is easy to get carried away. But my feet are firmly in the ground. I love my job and will continue to work.”
She said she is thankful she migrated to the UAE in 2012. “Dubai is a city that can change your life. It’s a place where dreams come true.”
YOUSPEAK: What will you do if you win 20kg gold?
