Back to the time- my first visit abroad and it was the SUNCITY , the annual kickoff of HTA. “Two More’ shared earlier happened on the same city.
So let’s get to the episode with minimalistic background information.
There was enough drinks on the house along with enough OLD MONK bottles that the team had carried from Mumbai. The conference was so designed that first half 9:30 Am to 1:00 PM there used to be speeches and discussion and then rest of the day was free. Few events and adventure sports type were organised by the office. And then in the evening drinks and Dinner.
I had heard of CASINO’s but seeing one so big was a something of a shock. It was a new experience and hence some of us would find ourselves living out of Casino. We would be out of Casino during the conference and evening party time. Or when at 3:30 Am in the morning they would chase us out while the Casino was cleaned. That would lead us to the slot machines and the day would continue.
Casino visits were working in an almost self sustaining system. You would win and lose but would have enough to see the night through without much of damage to the wallet. That was till that fateful night.
THAT EVENENING. All caps is just to stress on how well entrenched the imagery is. It was an early start, I and sheeki* had picked
KAMAL OBEROI
a Roulette table toward the end of the hall. The lady luck decided that she would be extra favourable to us. So that night wherever I and sheeki would place the chips, the table would turn that way. There was no logic and after a few drinks the stack of chips on the side kept growing by the spin.
I remember pocketing few of the Golden chips as insurance for later.
The table had visitors like Jagdeep Bakshi, Mike Khanna, Kamal Oberoi and Samir Verma. They came played and even tried following the hot run that I and sheeki were having- but they soon lost their chips. Result they left the table.
Now the table had just two of us and visitors that would come play and move on. The chips were hot and we had no intention of leaving till we were asked. I was up some 15000 Rand ( at that time it was Rs 10 = 1 Rand ). And then entered a young chirpy babe; JUHI CHAWLA. She was with Rakesh Roshan and the gang. And they picked our table.
That was the last Number that rolled our way. They played like high rollers. They moved 500 chips on a roll compared to 50 or max 100 we were doing till that moment. But with beautiful Juhi standing right across your line of vision, the best of intentions and the self imposed rules were soon forgotten. In an attempt to be seen as equally good, we moved our chips. The chip tower on my side slowly but significantly started losing its height.
Sooner than we anticipated, the chips were all gone and we were digging into the Golden Chips reserve we had created some time back. We went on till somehow I was able to snap out of it. The smiling Juhi did not matter. The chips that Rakesh was moving had no meaning. It was the second last Golden chip on my pocket and that was the reserve I was left with.
That was the night I lost money equivalent to1.5 Lakh Indian Rupees and I blame that on Juhi Chawla. It was her entry into the Casino and picking my table that tipped the balance. She was standing next to Rakesh Roshan and it was directly opposite me. In some terms lady luck stood against me from that moment. I lost and lost and lost till senses prevailed.
The part that I hate most- she never would know what she did that summer night.
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That night I learnt some great lessons for future Casino visits
- You play with the money you can afford to lose
- You set a limit to your winning and losing- and you honour that
- Lady luck is not just a imagination. If you sometime have a feeling that lady luck has stopped looking your way- you exit.
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It worked for me. Recent example. Last night of 2013 Macau visit. All team members were playing and losing. That night, I sat in that Casino did not play a single game as for the earlier two night I kept winning and then had s feeling that lady luck had deserted me for the final night.
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*That’s the nick name I remember. It was person in HTA media more of a partner is that trip. If someone knows and recognises the name, please do let us know
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