28-day-old Indian baby among big winners at Dubai shopping festival

Dubai: A 28-day-old Indian baby, in the UAE has won gold and diamond jewels worth dirham 1,40,000 in a shopping festival. Nithera Janardhanan won the prize money USD 39,000 at a raffle in 20th Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) on Friday.

"We bought some gold to celebrate the 28th day after the birth of the newborn and then filled in three coupons in her name in the hope of winning something," said Anil Janardhanan, father of the lucky little winner Nithera. "In Kerala we celebrate the 28th day after a baby is born and so I decided to purchase a chain and a bangle which cost around Dh 2,000," he said.

"I received a call and I thought someone was playing a prank on me, so I handed the phone to my friend. Later that day, we figured out it was real, and they told me my daughter had won. We were so surprised," Mr Janardhanan was quoted as saying to the Gulf News. The winners included two Indians and one Emirati national.

Binoy Varghese, an Indian logistics supervisor who won one carat solitaire ring, worth around Dh 11,000 in DSF raffle said, "It finally worked, we finally won." "I always tried, but I was never lucky enough to win. I was so surprised and in shock when I got a call telling me I had won," said Mr Varghese.

The 20th edition of Dubai Shopping Festival is organised by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and is being held under the theme, 'A Journey of Celebrations'