The time… 4pm. The day…Tuesday, June 1oth. The place …the mezzanine floor of my office building.

Some 50 of us, men and women, abandoned our workstations to huddle in a corner of the mezzanine floor, looking down on the lobby area where colleagues, twice our number, stood facing our bosses seated in a row next to a “koi” fish pond.

No speeches, no motivational talks…nothing. All of us waited restlessly, some paced the floor, some stood almost statue-like. We waited for a good 15 minutes before one by one the bosses moved to the centre of the lobby floor and picked 10 names each, making a total of 120.

A gentleman in a dark suit called out the names and one by one, those called marched to the centre of the floor, each picked a piece of folded paper with a set of numbers printed on it before bolting to the 12th floor of the office tower.

There I was, flanked by two women on a sofa at the mezzanine floor, while others stood, cramped like sardines in a can. It was getting noisy… someone booed when a name was called, another jeered, a few clapped their hands.

Sweats were beading on my forehead. Nervous, excited, worried … I can’t really say how I was feeling at that moment.

Then it happened. I heard my name being called loud and clear, resonating in the confined area. The gentleman called out my name like one would when announcing names of boxers in a ring….in the red corner, weighing 160lbs, from …..like so.

I jumped to my feet, not knowing exactly what to do. Should I run, should I stay, or should I just go down to the centre of the lobby like those who had been called up earlier. I felt like crying…

In that fleeting moment, I could hear my colleagues prodding me to go down, to obey, to face the bosses! One even told the others to make way for me, opened the door and warned the gentleman in the dark suit that I was on my way down.

It was just a blur, noises muffled. Guess it was already too late to hide. I let out a yell. It sounded more like a shriek….I spiked a clenched fist in the air , hurried down the staircase and before I knew it, there I was already standing in the centre of the lobby floor. I could feel hundreds pairs of eyes on me, stabbing me with their stares, I swear.

I could hear jeers, hoots and laughs, claps and all…. Frightening!? No-lah, I was on the top of the world!!!!

BECAUSE…….I had just won a lucky draw! I won a lucky dip! I won!…..A first in my entire life, a first since I joined this organization almost three decades ago. Never once I won anything from a lucky dip. Never once, I swear. Many times at dinners, all those seated at the same table with me won something but not yours truly. I either missed a prize by a digit or by a mile……….

But yesterday God took notice of me and rewarded me handsomely. Thank you, God Almigthy! At that moment, I just didn’t care what I would be taking home. It didn’t matter even if it was only a pair of disposable underwear. Even that would be like winning a million dollar! My name was picked in a lucky dip and that was all that matters to me. At last, the jinx has been broken!

Like the others whose names were called, I took the lift to the 12th floor and collected my prize in the draw organised by the corporate communication department in conjunction with my organisation’s 40th anniversary. Hurray!! It was my turn to be taking something home.

By the way, it was a vase…crystal one some more.