The Curious Coincidence of 13

It's my encounter with the number 13 and I became not against it in Trikaidekphobia (fear of 13) but for it as Triskaidekomani (love of 13)

I encountered the number by chance. I happened to be reading about its experiences in wiki. 13 for most people and cultures is associated with the diabolic and spells bad luck. Thus we have the word Triskaidekaphobia which means fear of 13. In most hotels, hospitals and commercial establishments 13 is conveniently avoided with 12 B or a 14 A. There is also another curious phenomenon that amongst the week days, Friday the 13^th is disaster. People postpone appointments and other occasions on this. This is very true in American culture. I have also   been able to read positive and negative aspects of 13. For example there were 12 disciples and the thirteenth came Christ. Christ had to undergo the trial of being crucified. Some view crucifixion as not an end but view other events such as the resurrection as a new beginning. So viewed in its positive aspect, 13 could mean rejuvenation, resurrection, change and life. Through all this reading, I became attracted to the number 13 and it became an integral part of my esoteric, mystic and magical fantasy. This liking for 13 led me to an afflatus of coining a new word, a word that connotes liking for 13 as Triskaidekomania. I lived with Triskaidekomania as a seer does with life, flesh and blood. So I decided to check the working of the number 13. I had two empty debit cards with me and I changed their passwords to 13. “Aha…yes…wow…I emphasized mentally: soon luck would fall on me…my bank accounts would be replenished with tons of money. Sad to my luck nothing miraculous or lucky of that sort has happened till now. Then I reason, “it’s my fate, may be my money position won’t change in a fortnight”. But luck would pervade me and my accounts will be replenished when the opportune movement occurs. I became a seasoned cynic on the one hand and on the other a magical optimist. Then again I have the habit of buying lotteries. I visit the lottery seller, early in the morning while I go to buy my packets of cigarettes. The lottery seller has a motorbike and on it he has placed a wooden board on which are placed the lottery tickets. Now this lottery seller has grown so fond of me: he has the superstitious belief that if I buy the tickets first, early in the morning, his day would be lucky,  that is he would have roaring sales and also win maximum prizes for his tickets sold. Now how do I buy lottery tickets? I have an irrational habit and I have the penchant for the symbolism of numbers and alphabets. The English alphabet 26 in number has been my bread and butter. I have categorized them into their respective numbers. For example A connotes 1 and M connotes 13 which can be broken down to 3+1=4. So when I buy a ticket I used to buy tickets which would have the number 13. But now I have stopped this practice. I pick a ticket at random. After I buy it, I count it, both the alphabets and numbers and “LO”, what a surprise I have always started getting 13. But my luck is short lived. When evening comes as the result, I check the last prize, the last four digits, nowhere near. Then I check all the prizes beginning from the bottom and then going to the top. I become disappointed; is this fate after so much investment of mental energy? May be things will turn out for the better and one day I can with a cheap lunch have a marvelous victory. But then I am always puzzled by the inhuman way in which number 13 appropriates me. I don’t chase it, it just comes to me and call that luck, another unexplainable  mystery.