That Thing Called 'Friendship'

Friends, family, forever. Eternal words. We keep everyone in our heart. Though we admit or not, accept or not. People whom we hate also have their share of space in the heart too. That's why we remember them. Sustaining 'friendship' is a full time job. Everyone is neither equipped with the skill to maintain a friendship devoid of anger, deceit, jealousy, hatred & so on. You keep on piling up friends right from the days you know who you are and the people around. You start categorizing them, in your words & in your own world. They all fit into a category in your list.

There are those who you know will come and ask you for things which will put you off, and yet you bear them. There are also those who will tell you things on your face and remain unmoved. There are those ones, who meet you less often, speak even lesser, but bring out a smile inside you with just a thought. There are those who will never wear a mask in front you. The moment you start realizing that there is only good people around, and then you find the ones who come to you with their own agenda. There are those who will pretend with those ‘everything-will-be-fine’ gyan. There will also be the ones who will use you to step up in the ladder of their career.

But whatever category they fall into, they give you reason to live on. The positive ones (though there’s not any definition to ‘positive’ or ‘negative’) will always act as your strength & support system irrespective of the distance, number of calls/texts shared or Facebook/Twitter communications. The negative ones are only going to make you stronger, better & more prepared for the ones like them to come in your life.

The last but surely the best friends who feature in the list are the ones whom we identify a bit late in our lives (some do find them early ;). They are the parents, brothers, sisters, teachers and bosses. The luckiest ones have all of them as their friends. And we do maintain these relationships day in & day out. It is an everyday process without any terms & conditions attached to it. But with time, we have started putting a ‘tag’ in each of this ‘friendship’ thing! Today, the amount of ‘money’ spent on someone is a decisive factor for a relationship, the ‘scale of a gift’ is defining affection & the number of ‘likes’ for a post or picture in a social networking site is a real achievement.

Because for me, and for all of us, much before Facebook/Twitter/Social media, there were ‘only friends’, with real ‘friend requests’, ‘pokes’, ‘messages’, ‘life events’, ‘likes’, ‘dislikes’, ‘fights’, ‘updates’. Back then, we never used to celebrate 'Friendship Day', for us everyday was a day to cherish & remember. Nostalgia comes out of things that you have 'done' & long for it. That feeling is surreal. Inexpressible. 

And for God’s sake there were friends who used to ask me ‘what is on your mind’, not a machine!!!