I don’t like buying lottery tickets mainly because I don’t like gambling and I kind of put lottery in with the other forms of gambling. But I do understand lotteries and the effect it has on most people. My maternal grandmother used to buy lottery tickets on a semi-regular basis. Not for her but her idea was that if she wins and wins big, she would split the rewards amongst her children. And especially to help the ones that she knows aren’t doing as well as they had hoped. On occasion I have gone to buy tickets for a specific day & amount for her.

I have never bought a lottery ticket for myself except one day must have been back in 2000 or so when I was feeling quite down. Finances were tight at home for the first time and everyone was feeling the effect. I was in the city and planning on having a soft drink to quench my thirst and stopped at a small roadside shop near the bus stand. While I drank my lemonade, I saw that the shop also sold lottery tickets. That was the only time I felt like buying one and I did. It was for 30 lakhs and I didn’t think that I was going to win but I thought “What the heck?” and bought one with numbers that ended with the day & month of my birth.

Ofcourse I didn’t win. I went home and kept the ticket safe for 2 days and then checked the papers to see the winning ticket numbers. Wasn’t even close? Ah well, I can spend that money in my dreams. I have never even come close to buying another one since.