Friendship Day is now drawing to a
close.
I remember celebrating it for the first
time in college. Since I did not know what to expect, I had tentatively picked
up 10 colored bands from our college stationery shop… my thoughts were on the
7 friends that I had and 3 extra for friends I would like to make. That shop
made a killer sale that day, I expect… on ribbons and pens… and yes scissors
for first timers like me. By the time college ended that day, I
had spent a lot of money on ribbons but it was well worth it because my hands
were covered with these ribbons in pinks, blues, and reds - total of 87 in all. Then, we resorted to
signing our name with our pens on our hands and I could not believe it… face
and legs.
Quite a comical sight! Or so I thought till... Mom screeched when she saw me… I
guess I looked like a graffiti wall.
Over the next 5 years, I thought
she would get used to it… naaahhhh!!! I tried telling her that it just meant I
had so many friends… many of them new.
She had given me words for pause and
ponder. She reminded me of my childhood friends from my building, the ones I
had grown up with since I was 9 years old. She did not remember us signing our
names on each other or tying ribbons each year… did that mean that they were
not friends? Did I not want to remember them then? Hmmmmm...
Of course! They will always
remain my friends this lifetime. In retrospect, I can safely say that the first
3-5 years are the testing years… if after that, you continue to remain friends,
then unless something drastic happens, you will continue to remain friends throughout your life. It
does not matter whether they stay nearby or far off in different parts of the
world, or that you do not speak to them as frequently as you did when you
were growing up. Of course, Whatsapp and Facebook and Skype has changed that too now…
Going back to the past… along
the way, I pandered to egreetings revolution set off by Hallmark I heard, and
sent many to my friends all over the world on Friendship Day which by this time
started getting celebrated on the first Sunday of August. I have saved all the
bands and memorabilia I got from my best friends each year on this special
Sunday in August.
Today, besides my
childhood friends… some of who are my besties, I remember
- all my friends who at first sight had seemed to me as ‘That’s my friend’. Of course, I lost some of these to misunderstandings or in some cases god-alone-knows reasons…
- all my friends who just grew on me as the time spent with them…
- all my friends who I got introduced to via technology – Facebook, Google, because of some common traits that we share
- all my friends who I disliked on first sight, which then that turned to hate and then blame it on destiny or whatever… an incident happened that changed my perspective and now they are ‘keepers’. Don’t ask me, I am as perplexed as you are…
Friendship like any other relationship needs nurturing and perseverance
on your part and of course your friend should be receptive too. If you have more friends than what you can count on your fingers,
I think that says a lot about you and that you have had a great life.
Thank you dear friends for
sharing some part of your life with me; here is to friendship!!!
:-)
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