Daijiworld Media Network – Sullia
Sullia, Mar 24: Sometimes dreams come true when they are least expected. The life of a small eatery owner from Sullia has similarly changed overnight after he won a bumper lottery of Rs 4 crore.
Sudhama B Maniyani, the 51-year-old owner of a small restaurant called Hotel Nidheesh in Sullia had been trying his luck with the lottery for the last four years. And this time, fortune favoured him, and how!
On March 1, he had bought three Kerala State Lottery tickets of Summer Bumper Draw in Kasargod while on a visit to the town, each ticket costing him Rs 150.
Maniyani says that in the days that followed, he literally forgot about the tickets, and even when the results of the lottery were announced, he did not really bother as he never expected to win anything, let alone the jackpot.
But then, he heard that someone from Sullia had won the bumper prize, and as it turned out, it was Maniyani's lucky ticket that had won, bearing the number SB 131399.
Maniyani, who hails from Kasargod, has been living in Kanthamangala in Sullia ever since his parents migrated to another state long ago. He opened Hotel Nidheesh about 20 years ago, after initially running a small hotel business in Adyanadka village.
He is married to Prabhavati and the couple has three children - Nidhesh, Sharath and Manvith.
Asked what he plans to do with the prize money, Maniyani said his priority would be to utilize the money for the education of his three children.