Weird superstitions

All of us have superstitions. Atleast most of us do. Want to know what mine is? I've got a fixation with the number 8.
If i can't get 8 i'll settle for 4, and if that's not possible, i'll go for a multiple of 8, or atleast an even number (i pick up the phone after an even number of rings). Weird la? I know it's silly, and i also know that even if i pick some other number, my life's not really going to spiral downwards. But there's a feeling in 8 and it sort of makes me feel complete.
Let's take the example of music - In carnatic music, 8 lays a foundation. I'm sure a lot of people know about Adi taalam. Take most of the rythms and beats you listen to, and you'll find the underlying current of 8's in them.
And what about the exercise drill that we used to have in school? The counting goes all the way upto 8 before coming back to 1.
Once you start looking for it, you can actually see 8 everywhere.
Funny though it may sound, i actually drink water in small sips of either 4 or 8, and i get teased like hell about it :) also that's the ideal time for my friends to tip the bottle and give me a little shower, but the brave do not get deterred by such miscreants, and so the rituals shall continue.

Maybe my fascination with 8 stems from the fact that i have a fixation with symmetry and balance as well. Tell me, what other number has as much beauty as 8? It's not too simple, and at the same time it is pleasing to the eye. It's rounded, symmetric, and is the most well balanced number, the only other being 0 (i like 0 too and its spelling is nice as well).

Another exciting thing about 8 is that if you turn it 90 degrees, we get infinity, another one of my favourites. And of course, most of us (who know a little bit of math) know the curious relationship that 0 and infinity share. Division by 0 gives infinity, and division by infinity gives 0.
Infact, we can relate this concept to that of athiests and believers. Atheists define God as nothing. And we believers give God so many names and forms, that ultimately, God is everything, and there's nothing else left to describe God that is not already God itself. Now associate the 0 with what the atheists say, and infinity with what the believers say. If you are able to see what i see, then you'll see that maybe we're all trying to say the same thing.

I notice that i've gone off on a rather philosophical tangent, and it's time to get back to the topic i actually meant to discuss - Weird superstitions.

Coming to Symmetry, guess who else loves it as much as i do? None other than Hercule Poirot, the grey cells laden, egg headed guy that so many of us have come to adore. Yup, he loves symmetry, and that's one of the reasons why i loved Poirot's last book. Fantastic ending according to me :)

And Balance - Everything must be balanced, especially between right and left. If i chew food with my right teeth, i make it a point to chew on the left as well. If i touch my right ear, i also touch my left one. Again, not many people would find the logic in it (honestly, neither do i) but it helps me feel more complete.

I also used to have another superstition - I used to go to school by cycle. While returning, one of the roads used to have a small, curved dent, and i loved to go over it everytime. If i missed it, i would actually feel pretty sad. But then, of all the roads in our country that need repair, the government chose this one. Thus on one not so fine day, i lost one of the pleasures of my life :( I could only stare at the freshly laden tar, my heart filled with sorrow and mourning. For 2 days, i felt acute pain whenever i passed that area. After that, i just picked some other thing to obsess over. After all, there's no lack of crazy superstitions in our mad,mad,mad,mad world :)