We are not unaware of the strong superstitions that exist about the number 13 being unlucky. No one knows why this is so, but many say this superstition has come to us from Christians who consider 13 an unlucky number because the Last Supper of Christ had had 13 present. As the story goes on it led to the crucifixion of Christ. But, it was the same crucifixion that led to the salvation of man, and the resurrection of Christ, too. Not so unlucky after all. But beliefs unsupported by fact do not fade away easily.

The uncanny feeling that many people have about 13 is so strong that many hospitals have no Room 13. Some tall buildings have no 13th floor, and the numbers on hotel rooms and elevators are often known to jump from 12 to 14.

The late Vere de Mel, founder of Quickshaws, the first radio cab service in the country, the first chairman of the nationalized Ceylon Transport Board, and a pioneer in tourism, had an interesting twist to this fear of 13 among most westernized people. At the Nuwarawewa and Tissawewa Rest Houses in Anuradhapura that were run by Quickshaws Travels at the time, there were rooms numbered 13, with the interesting legend on the door that "13 is a lucky number in this country". There was no one to contradict it, and many visitors did try to find their luck in 13.

It seems time to get back to Vere de Mel think, especially in politics today. Some newspaper headlines scream out that President Rajapaksa is sticking to his lucky 13. Others are fast joining the chorus of those who chant that 13 portends defeat for the Government. It’s all about the President’s declaration that he would implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution; which Constitution he has sworn to uphold, and curiously too, most of those who are now crying foul about having a 13th Amendment in it at all.

Those who introduced the 13th Amendment, in the face of much opposition to it at the time, are not just watching the fun but hoping that the wielders of 13 against the President and the Government would have their day, which they hope would clear the way for them to get back to power that seems to be a distant dream. Some elephants do have dreams of creeping through the eye of a needle.

Thirteen is making some politicians extra bold too. It is making them utter threats of quitting the Government if it goes any further with 13. One wonders whether they will even have thirteen people behind them if they do make the exit. But politicians who make postures of strength hardly reveal the real sawdust they are made of.

Another interesting thing about 13 and politics in Sri Lanka is that most of the people who talk so much against 13 today, are those who have benefited most from 13. Just take the Provincial Councils that came into place thanks to 13. But for it, many politicians at the provincial level who are lining up against 13 would not be able to have their duty free cars and various perks at public expense, at the provincial level no doubt, but with their sights constantly aimed at the national level.

Ten plus three has had its tragic side too. It was the killing of 13 soldiers by the LTTE in July 1983, which led to the ugly and tragic anti-Tamil riots, well orchestrated by the Government of that day, which was made use of by the LTTE and its propagandists to attack the image of Sri Lanka, and carry on such a protracted war of terror in this country. It must be the strange effect of 13 that has strangely made many of the Tami people against whom all that violence was directed, to believe that those responsible for that attack are their saviours.

We are not far away from the recent General Election when the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), laid increased emphasis on the heavy shade of saffron many of its leading members were draping themselves with, only to be roundly defeated at the polls. They are still unable to make a proper analysis of why the saffron dye on them did not food the Indian voters.

It appears that on this side of the Palk Strait today, those who are now touting 13 as their symbol of strength and strongest political slogan, are also looking at the possibility of giving a hue to the number, in the hope that it will lead them to success against one who is on record having defeated the Sun God in the Vanni. Some are also trying to give a faded pink hue to the same number with similar hopes of success. There is more than a touch of farce in seeing in people who sought the votes of the people to establish a Dharma Rajya in the country, try to use a figure of 13 dipped in saffron, to rekindle to fires of mistrust and hatred that we are still struggling to overcome, having defeated the terror they had caused.

Those who try to make use of 13, with or without saffron, for their political gain today, may well be like those who used the death of 13 soldiers to give the LTTE the excuse it was seeking to wreak havoc in the country for full thirty years.

Yet, those who have courage and the people behind them are not the type to flinch at 13. Fidel Castro was born on Friday, August 13, 1926. Archbishop and later President Makarios of Cyprus had his own fascination for 13, being born on August 13, 1913, and elected President at election held on December 13, 1959.

Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend, "they only had food for 12." Those who talk of quitting over 13 today may find that they are not served at the next political dinner.

Whatever else you may think of 13, just make note that the seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle’s head, 13 war arrows in the eagle’s claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch. And, the green back is till the most used currency in the world.

So need we fear the Charge of the 13 Brigade?