Dubai: When Indian expat Jagvinder Singh, who had been dreaming of owning an Audi car, got a seemingly random call saying he had won an Audi, he naturally assumed it was a prank.
It wasn’t. Singh, 43, was named the third and final winner of an Audi A3 sedan, given away in a raffle by Gulf News as part of the Gulf News subscription campaign, which ended on March 31.
With his wife and a friend in tow, Singh drove off in his brand new German car from the Gulf News office in Dubai on Monday after receiving the keys from Sabyasachi Gupta, Business Support Manager-Circulation, Gulf News.
Singh, who runs a scrap metal business, said it all seemed “unreal”. He said: “I had wanted to buy a new car, and I wanted an Audi, it was in my heart.”
The Sharjah resident, who drives a Mitsubishi Pajero, recently received a call from Gulf News saying he was the winner of the last Audi A3 in the subscription campaign.
“I didn’t even know about the campaign. My wife had filled out the subscription form and even she didn’t know about it. We have been subscribing to Gulf News for the last three years because we like the paper and we trust it,” said Singh.
“Recently I had got a prank call saying I had won Dh250,000 from [a UAE telecom company]. So when I later got the call about the Audi, I said, ‘Are you serious?’ But [the Gulf News caller] was a true gentleman and explained everything to me and an email was sent to me.”
Singh called his wife to share the good news — but she too didn’t believe it initially. “I told her about the mail and she was the one who opened it. Then it started to sink in. Something like this has never happened to us, not even to people we know. I didn’t think this happens in real life,” he added.
Singh, who has been in the UAE since 1997, hails from the northern Indian city of Jammu. He lives in Buhairah area of Sharjah and his company is based in Ajman.
“I would like to thank the UAE and Gulf News for this wonderful gift.”
The latest Gulf News subscription campaign was one of the most successful campaigns in recent times, surpassing all previous figures this year. Besides the Audis, Gulf News also raffled away 500 vouchers for Pure Gold jewellers as a part of the campaign.
Gulf News sincerely thanks all subscribers and its promotion partners for the success of the campaign.
