Until yesterday, Indian ambulance nurse Manu Mohanan’s biggest worry was how he would afford the tickets for his entire family to travel home. But on Friday evening, the Bahrain resident hit the jackpot by in the Big Ticket draw.

“When the hosts called me, I knew the call was genuine because I have watched the live draw several times,” he said, speaking to over phone from Bahrain. “However, I didn’t feel excited. I was just numb. My mind still has not registered it. I have had a very a tough life so this kind of windfall was something completely unexpected.”

Manu, who was on duty when the Big Ticket call came, was shocked. He then did a video call with the 16 others with whom he shared the ticket to give them the good news.

“Some of them had tears in their eyes,” he said. “All of us will be able to repay our debts and maybe even build a house. It is truly life-changing for us. All these men are like my brothers. We are colleagues and we know each other’s problems very well. The group even includes some people who left our workplace but still continued to pitch in to buy the ticket.”

Manu then called his wife and mother. His mother came to Bahrain just four months ago when his wife delivered their first child. “In March, my mother needs to return home and we were thinking of taking our annual vacation to take our son to a temple in India,” he said. “My wife is also a nurse. Bringing her to Bahrain, attesting her certificates and getting her a job was financially very taxing for us. I was wondering how I will be able to afford tickets for all four of us and then manage the expenses in India as well. Now, I am just speechless.”

Manu said he and his friends had been trying their luck at the Big Ticket for five years now.

“None of us could really afford the ticket but we kept cutting our expenses and finding the money to put towards this,” he said. “Last year, we went through a lull and stopped buying the ticket. But there was one person from our group who pushed me into taking it up again. We restarted about five months ago and, finally, we hit the jackpot.”

The first thing he wants to do is buy something for his mother, he said. “My father divorced my mother when I was just a year old,” he said. “My mother has struggled a lot to single-handedly raise me. At one point, she has even carried bricks and stones to make sure I got a good education. Now, at this stage of life, I have got this money and I want to give her a restful life.”