Luck is a simple four-lettered word but people would do anything in order to grab it. It’s really been a long time since I have pondered over this word and wondered why it means so much to so many people around the world. Recently, when I had nothing to do one afternoon, I thought I would count the diehard luck freaks that I know. Goodness! Their names are legion.

A couple of months ago, I accidentally broke a mirror into pieces in my hostel. Well, the very first reaction that I received from my cubical mates was, “Oh my god! You have just invited yourself seven consecutive years of bad luck.” This really did terrify me as my final exams were going on then. I timidly entered the exam hall the next morning and, to my greatest astonishment, the question paper in front of me had almost all, except a few, questions from the question bank that I had practiced the night before. Now what can be called luckier than this?

Another incident strikes my mind. I have an uncle who used to live in the US. He used to buy lottery tickets every month but never had the luck to win one until one fine day he discovered the number pattern that used to be announced as the winner and in his thirty-fourth time he bought the ticket that had the ‘would win’ number printed and he won the first prize at last. There he got a hefty sum in his pocket yet he loathes this word ‘luck’.

I vividly remember everyone calling this smart and blessed guy lucky. With the drumsticks in his hands, he looks literally perfect. His skill in playing the drum is simply stunning. In every cultural programme put up on stage, he is there beating the drums with great vigour and deliberation. The vibrant beauty of his creativity is widely appreciated.

One day I happened to spot his diary with a black cover. Though he always kept it surreptitiously inside his locker after he wrote his feelings, that day he somehow left it on the table. I was desperate to turn those pages as my innocent hands were driven by human instinct.

Suddenly my eager eyes happened to fall on a page and here I unwillingly disclose the last line which was written in bold letters: “For ten years I practiced for five hours a day and now people call me lucky.”