Luck

 As we were about to leave the resort, someone had the bright idea of distributing keychains as memorabilia for the event. But, there was a snag. Our team had 40 people but there’re 30 key chains. Again, an overly enthusiastic verification engineer came up with the most cliched solution. We all submitted chits with our names on it and the winners are picked randomly. I fancied my chances. After all, the odds of me getting one is 3 in 4. But, I was in the unlucky ten. I thought, I must be born with heaps of misfortune. Otherwise, how could I explain the event. And, it had a fantastic appeal too. Saying I achieved success despite wretched luck is lot cooler than saying otherwise. 

Years later, I came across an article in newspaper. A terrorist organisation called Boko Haram kidnapped about 300 girls aged 14-16. Basically, girls who’re in high school. Very few of them returned to their homes. Most of them were victims of horrific sexual assaults. Some died. My biggest worry when I was their age was preparing for class tests. Was I lucky?

  Boko Haram is an organisation based out of Africa. Well, it is unfair to compare myself with someone from Africa, isn’t it? It’s only fair to compare with someone from similar socio-economic status. In the Syrian civil war, the number of refugees was estimated to be close to six million. Another six million people were estimated to be internally displaced. In a population of 23 million, close to 12 million people moved away from their homes. The odds of a person becoming homeless in Syria was 1 in two. It’s not far fetched to imagine the scenario where a huge number of well to do people, the ones in similar or better socio-economic status than mine, had to run away from their home. Some of the refugees from Syria went to Libya through brokers charging heavy fee and then tried to cross Mediterranean Sea in a Dingy. If they reached the other side, are they lucky? Or, if they didn’t reach the other side, are they luckier?

  About four lakh people died in India during the multiple waves of the pandemic this year. Having been through Covid ourselves, I’ve seen personally how difficult it was to get an oxygen bed, a Remdesivir dose. I know people who couldn’t manage it in time, not for the lack of effort. Whom did the luck favour? I guess, it’s easy to blame luck when things don’t go our way. But, it doesn’t get the credit it’s due. This year, I learnt to be thankful for all the luck I received over the years.

  On this note, I wish you all a very happy new year filled with joy and luck, hopefully, you don’t need to rely on the latter