KOCHI: Lady luck comes in different ways and for lottery seller Smija K Mohan, it came as winning `6 crore bumper ticket which she sold over the phone. However, what makes Smija’s story stand out is her honesty. In these times when people are struggling to make ends meet, Smija, who comes from a middle-class family, didn’t think twice before driving over to the lottery winner’s house to hand over the winning ticket.
And now, her honesty is being rewarded in terms of awards and honours being promised by organisations and individuals. “After the story about me handing over the winning ticket to Chandran chettan broke, I have been receiving calls praising my honesty. However, people don’t understand that in this business, that’s all that matters. We have to be honest since we are being sustained by the hard-earned money customers pay to buy the tickets,” she said.
The 37-year-old mother of two who has set up a lottery stall near Rajagiri Hospital along with her husband had begun the business as a part-time endeavour. “Both me and my husband had been working with the government press at Kakkanad. We had begun the business in 2011 and had five employees. However, later on, after we lost our jobs with the press we decided to run the business by ourselves,” she said.
According to her, business was good. “But then Covid struck and we had to lay off the staff and do the selling all by ourselves,” said the graduate in Mathematics. “We were hit by another googly when my mother was diagnosed with cancer and that too in Covid times. However, unlike what’s being reported, my youngest who had been ill no longer suffers from any illness and has recuperated,” said Smija.
“The day that brought us much joy was very hectic and we also had to go through some tense movements since around 12 bumper tickets remained unsold. It was Sunday and our regulars were not around,” she said. Smija, who has a WhatsApp group comprising her lottery buyers, even posted about the tickets in the group.
“However, no one was willing to buy the entire 12. It was then that I contacted Chandran chettan. He asked me to send the picture of the tickets and called me back with the numbers of his choice,” she said. When she was notified about the win, all she could think of was to hand over the winning ticket as quickly as possible.