SOURCE : 7 DAYS
Dubai - FEB 04: A cardboard box collector who earns less than dhs750 a month working in Dubai is counting his blessings - and his money - after scooping a new luxury car and dhs100,000 in cash. And Ureri Satyanarayana intends to change his life immediately by quitting his job, quitting Dubai and heading home to celebrate with his wife and two young children back in India.
“My life has changed forever,” Ureri told 7DAYS. “I am going back to build a new house and start a new business.”
Ureri, 36, won a new Lexus LS 460 -worth about dhs400,000 - and the cash prize after entering a draw in this year’s Dubai Shopping Festival.
“It’s a fantastic prize, but I can’t drive so the car is not much use to me. I will exchange it for cash and take it all home.”
Ureri has been in the UAE for nine years and works an average of ten hours a day collecting and sorting cardboard boxes for a recycling firm.
The former tailor, from Andhra Pradesh in India, said: “It has been very hard for me to save any money and now I can’t sleep because I am so excited about the news. I’m not sure how to tell my family and nobody knows yet.
“My family has always struggled, but everything will change from now on. I intend to head home and build my family a house and get my children into good schools so they can have a first-class education.”
The expat said he bought the dhs200 ticket on impulse after walking across a petrol station forecourt and seeing the Lexus Mega Raffle advertised.
“I saw the tickets for sale and thought this could change my life,” he said.