What's luck got to do with it ?

Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan
14

"Luck is the sense to recognize an opportunity and the ability to take advantage of it." - Samuel Goldwyn

"You're just lucky."
I hear that a lot and I'm sure many of you have heard it too. I wonder if it irritates you as much as it irritates me. I always found that statement annoying because I felt I'd been dealt a bad hand in many important issues in my life by God/myself.


As a doctor working in an operation theatre, luck plays a major role in saving some unexpected disasters during an operation, but there is no substitute for skill and talent, if you ask me. If you know what to do and how to do it, lady luck will be there more often than not sitting on your shoulder, just to give the final touches. 

Of course, it isn't always just about work. You can make your own luck by wisely choosing to get national grid shares too. 

But yes, luck does apply to games too. Literally, as it turned out, in my case. Last week, I won a 1000 tickets at the gaming centre in City Centre, Mangalore.

It was one of those 'Press thrice accurately to win the Jackpot' games. I did later confirm from the staff there that I was the first one to win since it started.

They told me I was really lucky. That I should go buy a lottery ticket.

Funny. That's the same thing I heard at another mall in February where I was the first one to win the "Click at 1000" game, winning a Motorola mobile.
It's the same thing that staff have said for the past 3 years when I won half a dozen stuffed toys playing the 'Click at 1000' game in other gaming zones.

The fact is I can control when I press the button. I can aim for the number. I always felt it was a honed skill. I can prepare for a difficult case because I can anticipate what can go wrong.
But I can't aim for picking a winning lottery ticket whose number I don't know. I have tremendously bad luck when I play in the stock markets ( I'm sorry guys. The whole market crash which everyone blamed on the Greeks and the U.S. was actually me putting money into the market and the 'miraculous' recoveries matched my exiting the market to the minute ! I really should warn you guys the next time I invest. )

I don't really know where luck ends and skills begin or vice versa. I don't buy into the "it's a fine line" theory. For me, there's a big gap between these two facets of life. It isn't about wearing gold rings or whether astrologically speaking, my Pluto is in UrAnus.

I don't have all the answers as to why we're so lucky in some aspects of life and so unlucky in others. Just a random roll of the dice, I guess. Oh, and by random, I DO mean a Shakuni styled roll of the dice, of course, where you know how the dice will land.

What's been your best experience with Lady Luck till date ?

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14Comments

Let me know what you think.

  1. Next time I will take you to the "Click at 1000 game" .. gifts for me... :))

    btw if you continue this The day is not far when the game center will put a board outside saying "Roshan not permitted inside....

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  2. and i shall take you too Rosh and arre baba just plain accept ki you are lucky in the game and maybe not so otherwise-coz these are heights of coincidences...

    and sorry to burst your bubble-that stock market came crashing down because of me and not you..i even have proof of it on a blog post that i wrote during that time...

    luck is not the only thing-we get what we chose and life reacts on how we act:-)

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  3. U r just TOO GOOD;-o!!!! Well ok some amt of luck must be involved but the secret sure lies in ur magic fingers & dont let anybody convince u otherwise;-D.

    Me I've won burgers from Burger King, a spatula from Lulu, a bright red pen from Sadia chicken & I dont knw if u remember but Friday has these 'match the books & authors' competitions. I've won atleast 5-6 times.
    Am I lucky or what!!!!
    But these are all chillar stuff. What I'm aiming to be is a Mashrew Millionaire....high hopes huh;-D

    p.s: About the stock-market...dont be hard on urself, that was my husband;-D

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  4. ooops typo....I meant Mashreq Millionaire

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  5. LOL nono regarding the stock market, it wasn't you or Nancy's husband...I'm sure it was my husband :D And yes, when something is achieved by hard work, people get some bliss out of saying that it was just luck. I've heard that many times. Sure, luck plays a role only when other ingredients like skill and hard work was added in large amounts.

    As for me, Yahoo blogger contest was one thing I won...also another contest on writing a caption for a random photograph I won a box of chocolates, and again another article won me Rs.500 -I spent around 600 or more treating my friends for it.

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  6. Shyam...I'm still wondering why they havent banned me till now :) I've been winning here quite a bit ..and ya, I should really try vegas :)

    Suruchi, totally agree with ur view on luck...as for the stock market - arre yaar, look at all the comments below. everyone is trying to take my credit for destroying the world's economy !!! How to explain to u the talent i have for entering stocks when they're at their peak and how they crash by 15 % the same day :(

    Reflections, Mashreq Millionaire is indeed the one to get... u know with ur and my luck combined, we should be able to win big..Mogamboo, oru sponsored trip to Vegas..we'll give u 10 % profits..best offer :)

    Anita, true..luck depends on a lot of factors too.And ya, I remember.. U won the blogger contest on ur bday..i was the one who informed u :)

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  7. Some people just have some luck in lotteries and lucky draws,but otherwise I believe more in karma and skill, luck also favours those who make efforts, by attributing evrything to luck we are denying credit where it is due.hard work of the person involved.

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  8. Tell me if u don't call this lucky!! For yrs my mom s bin unluckily tryin to win something out o tat vanitha magazine mega contest they hold, until one year she sends de posts under my name! Guess wat.. I one a sachet o rasna drinking powder.. N till today get teased by my family members! I think they shud stop announcing o publishing winners in public!

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  9. Luck has got lots to do in life!!! If I was lucky I would hav got a hot gf!! I would hav got a filthy rich friend who would hav taken me to Las Vegas in his private jet! And with my luck I could hav won a lott!!!
    And finally if I was lucky I could hav been invited to the Kingfisher new year party in goa! See am nt all lucky. . Poor me!!

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  10. Renu, i agree..people tend to discount the hard work by calling it luck.

    Anon, hehe..definitely lucky :) And no way !! they should announce it , publish it, heck...put it on the flag !! its ur moment of glory..enjoy it.

    Rohan, poor u !! Sigh..after reading that, now I feel depressed that i aint lucky too :s

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  11. The 'you're lucky' statement irritates me as well coz it's not as easy as it appears. Stock market, cards, ludo(!).. they've never been my friends.

    I think when we have no one to blame, we blame it on luck. And when people can't see what's working for a particular person they call it luck! So basicalllyyyy.. luck seems to be for losers.. i'm glad i'm not lucky! :D

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  12. Amen to that Nisha...ur right. People use the 'lucky' tag in belittling people's effort a lot... to show contempt

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  13. LOL Mogambo didnt come back did he...he must have thought "Nee ippo angane suhikanda";-D

    umm u r mal arent u;-o????

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  14. Mallu by blood and English accent, definitely not by Mallu vocabulary skills...the rest Mogamboo can fill u in, being my school classmate :)

    And ya, somehow i dont think u and i should start packin our bags for vegas yet :D

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