May the best man win

The winning season is upon us. Every which way you turn you see malls, hypermarkets… why even small groceries offering promotions left, right and centre, luring you with the promise of winning millions in gold, cars or a stash of cash as part of the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).

This is the time of the year when people seem hell-bent on breaking the bank to buy the latest television, the latest smartphone, the latest washing powder … anything and everything to hit the jackpot.

However, while everyone, including yours truly, usually does some shopping to pick up a raffle coupon or two, a friend of mine who came here eight months back and is getting his first taste of DSF, must surely take the cake when it came to shopping for big stakes.

Just the other day I went visiting him at his Mankhool home and I must say it was quite an experience.

The first shock came when I saw some feng shui items hanging from the main door.

I had always known this friend to be a pretty grounded sort of bloke who never actually believed in all such mumbo -jumbo… But here it was.

Entering the house, I was even more surprised when he instructed me to place my footwear facing inward on the shoe rack. "This way the negative energies are absorbed into the wall and not into the home," he explained with a smug look.

I was even more intrigued when I saw some cartons standing in the corner of his big drawing room.

He proceeded to tell me that just last night he had purchased a brand new LCD television, a digital camera and a iPhone for his wife (for Valentine's Day, he winked at me).

I was seriously thinking he had probably robbed some rich bloke or something, when he whispered that he had taken a loan on his credit card to fund this exercise in extravagance.

As far as I knew, his old television was working perfectly fine, so why the need for a new one? And regarding the digicam, I distinctly remembered him telling me that he had purchased one at Gitex last year. So why?

He reassured me that there was a method in his madness.

"You see, to gain something you have to lose something," he said with a wise tweak of his glasses.

Countless coupons

I had never thought my friend a philosophical kind, but then as they say never judge a bloke by his cover.

"I am buying all this stuff so I can get the big one," he continued

"Big one?" I was intrigued.

"Oh yes I am talking about mega winning. Ever since DSF began, I have been purchasing items left right and centre and filled up countless raffle coupons. After all there is no way I can let go of a chance at winning either a kilogram of gold, a luxury car, or a million dirhams. And, who knows if lady luck decides to be kind, I could even end up winning them all!"

I stared at him aghast.

As he went to bring me tea, I noticed a laughing Buddha, a few ceramic frogs and turtles and a water fountain on a table in the corner. "What's with all the feng shui and stuff?" I offered.

"Oh, that? It's just to increase my luck factor.

"Since we have purchased so many items in the hope of striking it big, a friend of ours who reads books on such stuff suggested we do these things."

"And has it helped?" I enquired.

"Actually, it has.

"You see, just two days back our son won a coffee mug in a spot prize at school."

I came back shaking my head. For his sake, I hope the poor guy (literally, after blowing up almost a fortune on those goods) manages to win something, anything more than just a measly coffee mug!

DSF guys, are you listening?