Every human being is unique in his own way. Similarly, my friend circle consists of so many friends yet none is similar to the other and possesses a different personality trait. Some are witty and cynical. Some are courageous while some are terrified. I do have some friends who are quirky as well. The most quirkiest of them all is J. She has remarkably a different opinion than anyone else.

I spend around 10 hours of my everyday's lifetime with her as she sits adjacent to my cabin at work. She became my friend not only because of her proximity to me at work but also her behaviour which is so weird yet innocent. She is so weird at sometimes but trust me, she is the only one who can get away with it. If someone else does it, they would be called I - N - S - A - N - E. Her quirkiness has landed her sometimes in trouble and being misunderstood by the people who don't know her(which is very rare as the whole office knows her) but those who know her very well, just love her for what she is.

J has a very unique and weird dress sense. Her formal wears and casual wears(on fridays only) doesn't have too much difference. For her, formal is semi-casual and casual is  also semi-casual. She is the only one in the whole office who looks different on fridays and of course, on weekdays as well. According to her, it is her style statement and there is nothing wrong in dressing like this. As I said before, she is the only one who can get away with such dressing sense. Even HR people don't bother as they know her very well.

She is one such foodie who can try any different type of food at any given point. She is always the first one to arrange lunch meetings in any restaurant which none has ever heard of. Even at lunch time in office kitchen, she likes to try everything everyone has brought from home. Cracking jokes while eating is must to mention which makes our eating and laughing together a troublesome effort. Going out for drinks seems so exciting for her on fridays after work. Of course, we all know that while at drinks, she is going to bring a random conversation topic and will make all of us to have say on it.

Bringing weird topic of discussions is her favourite pastime. What will happen if all go to mars? If our department is shifted on moon? I think I was crucified in my last birth? Do you know how did you die in your previous birth? - These are some of the questions she had asked us to have our say while we are so busy in meeting deadlines of our web development. Trust me, I don't know from does she get all these questions in her mind. In the office meetings as well, she always has her different say which is never wrong. Hey, did I tell you that she is the head of Creative Department and a mother of two? Huh ! She is, probably, the coolest boss.

Her opinions are always different than most of us and she never regrets about what she says. She is confident and a confidant as well. She is very innocent though which makes us believe in her. Being a trustworthy person, I always confide in her. Since I know that she is one such person with whom I can share what I feel, she always proves me right and never lets me down.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

A muse is an interesting character who stimulates our creative side and inspires us in our lives. It is like a role model whom we look upon as an inspiration. We definitely need a muse to grow further to live a disciplined, creative and a performing life. I am inspired by so many people in my life because I believe everyone is unique and they inspire you in a different ways.

If I have to jot down my few muses, I'd consider my parents as my first muse because they are my first inspirations who taught me how to get inspired creatively. I don't think anyone would disagree with me on this that parents teach their child how to be proactively creative by helping the child to speak the first word of his life. A child develops his creative perspective, beliefs  and consciousness from his parents first.

The second and the most important muse of mine is myself ! I believe in myself more than anyone else around me. I am a great inspiration to myself which keeps my conscience in high spirits and in ever learning mode.

Since none knows me better than myself, I know my strengths and weaknesses. I constantly look for development and improvement from my last attempts. I always inspire myself to do better everytime. I am a strong believer of self-consciousness which instills passion and creativity in oneself.

I have always been a people's person. Belonging to a joint family also made me surrounded by someone all the time at home. I enjoyed the time when everyone was around and I never had to think about my own space of solitude. This comfort zone of mine made my initial years in the foreign land really tough when I came to study in Canada. Living all by myself and silence around me made me homesick.

I hope everyone is having a great start of the year. Since everyone is trying to stick to their resolutions, I thought of sharing an amazing story of a person which I can't resist.


This new year's eve we had a family get-together and we invited our relatives and family friends to dinner. While sharing some family moments together, I was stunned to hear that an Uncle of ours had won $2 million in a lottery in 1984. He was very casual while sharing it with us. I didn't believe it for a second because he is very down to earth and has never showed any signs of once being a millionaire. Infact, he is a very contented man and very much happy with his middle-class life.

He started telling us that how he spent his winning money by buying his favourite car and other things he liked. Now, after 31 years, he lives in an average house with his family working full time. He drives an average car and enjoys an average household income. What surprises me the most is - he is the most satisfactory person I have ever met.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT LOTTERY WINNERS

I was curious to know that how most of the lottery winners end up doing in their lives and I came across few interesting facts which are shared below:

1. 44% of the winners lose all their money won in lotteries within 5 years. 
2. 48% of the winners keep their daily job even after winning huge amount of money.
3. There is only 50% chance that winners will be happy after winning the lotteries.
4. 90% of winners lose their friends.
5. 32% winners gain weight.
6. 68% of winners keep playing the lotteries.

(source : therichest.com)

LOTTERIES IN INDIA

Although gambling is not legal in India (the Public Gambling Act of 1967) and you could be behind the bars if you try to do so, yet horse racing and lottery are the only legal channels of gambling system in India. Yes, betting on cricket is also illegal !

Gambling laws are entitled to be enforced by State Governments in India but Goa, Punjab and Sikkim are the only States which offer lotteries to their residents. Sikkim has come out with its online lottery operated by"Playwin" which is played by Indians throughout India.

MONEY VS HAPPINESS

Buying lottery is an addiction and if you win it, you'll definitely like to buy it again (referring to interesting facts about lottery winners #6). If you don't buy lotteries at all, you have the skill of self-control and you don't believe in spending hard earned money on gambling.

You can buy your favourite car or travel around the world but you cannot solve tensions in your family life (if any) or make real friends with money. If you are not good at managing finances, winning a lottery is going to make it even worse because internet is full of such stories of people who went riches to rags with no sense of managing their money.

The real happiness is earned when you are satisfied with what you have . Our uncle is probably now a satisfied person because he has seen the extremes of riches and losing it all too. In his own words, he says,"if you can win an unexpected money, always be prepared to lose it as well because it never belongs to you. If you earn it, you own it. "