It all began in the summer of 1995. Shumita, an avid Channel V watcher at that time, came across a competition which asked viewers the question, “Who is Batman’s sidekick?” The prize was two Qantas tickets to Brisbane and an all expenses paid trip, which included a three-day hotel stay on Gold Coast, and visits to various amusement parks, including the Warner Brothers Studio that had produced the movie “Batman Forever”.
The answer was a no-brainer, even for Shumita who doesn’t much follow the superhero movies. So she wrote ‘Robin’ on two postcards, one in her own name and the other in Ruchir’s, and posted them to the required address. She then forgot all about it.
A few weeks later, the home phone rang – all landline those days. Shumita picked it up to hear a foreign female voice at the other end asking for Ruchir. Those days, Ruchir used to write a Forex Watch column for The Economic Times for which he often spoke to foreign economists and correspondents. Shumita presumed the caller was one of them and gave the lady Ruchir’s office number. Before hanging up, Shumita casually inquired what the call was about and was told it was about a competition Ruchir had won.
Shumita kept the phone down without asking any further questions. It took about 60 seconds for her mind to register that the competition must have been the one she had entered. She first got overexcited, but that emotion was soon overcome by panic as she hadn’t told Ruchir anything about it! She frantically tried to call Ruchir to alert him to the fact that he would get this strange call, and that he shouldn’t tell the caller he knows nothing about it. However, his personal line was busy. She got through on the common line, but was told that he was on another call. A few minutes later, Ruchir called back and Shumita asked him: “Did you win?” The answer was “Yes”. Ruchir had tactfully handled the call from Channel V and a month later, the brother-sister duo were off to Australia for the first time on a holiday by themselves.
They were picked up at Brisbane airport by a chauffeur driven luxury car and taken to a 5-star hotel where the stars of ‘Batman Forever’, including Val Kilmer and Nicole Kidman, had stayed. A British woman, who had made the initial calls to Shumita and Ruchir, met them at the hotel and was with them throughout along with the other winners - a girl from Hong Kong and her friend. They were told that there were about 20,000 correct entries out of which two were picked up in a lot. That revived our faith in the lottery system!
A stretch limo was used for the five of them to move around. A highlight of the trip was a drive in the Batmobile used in the movie. But only Ruchir and the other winner could drive it; Shumita who was responsible for the trip was politely asked not to even touch it.
STRIKE ONE!
In the beginning of 1996, as a frequent visitor to the British Council Library, I chanced upon a competition sponsored by British Airways. It invited entrants to write a short poem on what they would like to do on a visit to London. I penned down something and then, in a moment of inspiration, wrote four more and posted the lot – one each for Mummy, Akhila, Ruchir, Shumita and self. And that was that.
Time passed by and one day, a thick yellow envelope arrived at our Som Vihar flat from the British Council. At that time, Akhila was doing some translation work for them, and dismissed the envelope as more work coming her way. Shumita, with plenty of time at her disposal during college those days, decided to open it. She could hardly believe what she was holding in her hands! The letter announced Akhila’s name as the winner of a return ticket to London, along with a 5-day stay in a studio apartment in Hyde Park, London, and two tickets for three days to watch an India vs England test match at Lord’s.
We felt someone should accompany Akhila and decided on Shumita as she was the only one from the family who had not been to London until then.
A few days after Akhila’s letter was received, another one arrived at our doorstep. This time in my name, declaring me as the winner of a consolation prize: 6 coasters of London landmarks!
So I was confined to looking at those images while mother and daughter had a gala time staying in the centre of the city in a beautiful apartment, exploring London and visiting Lord’s whenever they felt like it. It so happened that a shipmate of mine, Cdr Randhawa, was at that time Secretary Services Sports Control Board. He got in touch with the manager of the Indian team, Sandeep Patil, who ensured the two ladies were well looked after at Lord’s.
STRIKE TWO!!
About a year and a half later, I read in The Economic Times about a competition in partnership with Delta Airlines where they called for a 10-word caption to complete the phrase: “I like The Economic Times and Delta Airlines because…” The promised prize was an Executive Class return ticket to New York.
A line flashed in my head: “ET provides me with hottest tips and Delta, coolest trips”. I wrote it down and sent in my entry. Some weeks later, I was contacted by ET and informed that I had won the prize. We hadn’t been to the USA and had not even considered to ever visit it. This was a Godsend and Akhila and I made the trip - win one, go two!
STRIKE THREE!!!
On return, both of us felt that we had now seen the world and our travels were complete. Little did we know that Ruchir, and for some years Shumita, would move to USA and this would be the first of many more trips.
PS1: After the Australia trip, Shumita entered another competition in The Times of India for which the prize was two free tickets to a movie at Priya Cinema and a pair of Pepe Jeans. When she saw her name in the paper, she came bounding out of her room, screaming “In won, I won!” Ruchir asked her with much excitement what was it that she had won. When she said, 2 movie tickets and a pair of jeans, he exasperatedly sighed and said “Big deal!” In contrast to free holidays overseas, it seemed an insignificant prize.
PS2: We stopped entering competitions after that, giving chances for others to win! My little grandson, Raghav, though, upon hearing these stories, picks up the newspaper regularly now, rifling through for any competitions to enter.
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