Essence of Friendship

My Article called "The essence of Friendship!!" was published in Satyam Nipuna internal magazine in the August, 2005 edition. It was the friendship week and I wrote the article for friendship day.



It was 10:30 in the morning when I was sipping a cup of hot Coffee and impatiently waiting for my friends to join in. Our regular adda was in the College canteen. After classes, we regularly met here over some Samosas and some precious college gossips, Today we would be meeting again recollecting and reliving the college days. I still remember the taste of Hot Samosas with Tamarind sauce, which I bet we'll get nowhere. The song from Rockford "Yaaron, Dosti… badi hi haseen hai"… was like an anthem for all of us. Oh! The unforgettable College days …all the reasonable/ unreasonable dreams, the numerous meaningless laughters, all the fun, treats for every small and big reasons, oh! the exam preparations. … All the post "Dil Chahata Hai" promises and schedules of keeping in touch with each other no matter what, all the crazy photo sessions and autograph books, and how could any one forget the very touchy and teary farewell party.

But reality bites…gradually we started losing touch. Every time a plan was made, I would have to drop out for some or the other reason. It's now more than 5 months since I last met them. Suddenly a lot of noise in the vicinity broke the silence and got me back to the present. It was break time and the canteen was buzzing with noise and activity, but today I felt a little left out as I knew no one there. Suddenly the inquisitive eyes of a familiar face caught my attention. She was our Canteen in-charge. Seeing me sitting alone, she came towards me and we exchanged some pleasantries. She said that my friends met quite regularly and it was only me who did not come. I knew that too. Every time I would be the one to miss this get-together as I would be really busy with work during weekdays, and busy catching up with my family members on weekends. I was a little free this weekend to make up for the missed out addas, and so eagerly waiting to meet them. She asked if I would be interested to much some samosas like before, but I wanted to wait till the arrival of my gang. I was remembering all the loving nicknames with which we used to call each other, all the leg pulling sessions and getting excited. I was wondering will things be the same as before, or have things changed?

As usual I was the only one to reach on time, while others stuck to their own ISTs (IST/ Indian Standard Time for many of us means "running late"). I hated waiting, but as usual reached first, even on knowing how punctual others were, I could not wait to meet them, that too after five long months. But no one except me seemed excited to meet. I was thinking of how to react to their weird stories when they narrate how they got late. It was okay to wait for sometime, but waiting for an hour? It was 11:30 A.M. and I was still… waiting!
After a while, two of my friends arrived conversing and giggling at some seemingly funny topic. They seemed as happy and cheerful as ever. They were blaming it on one another for getting late, while we still waited for the arrival of the third one. All the annoyance that I had gathered for their delayed arrival had vanished with just a warm hug and a broad smile. The two- Sara & Anna who'd just arrived were getting impatient waiting for Pooja to arrive. "She is always late", "She knows nothing about time management" were some of the comments they made and I laughed thinking, look who's talking about time management??!@!@!! We all bursted out in laughter. I got a vivid update of all that I missed during the last five months. To my realization it was only me who had missed all the fun. The rest of them were still the same. To be more precise, it was me who was losing touch with them, and not the other way round. They are still the same… Suddenly Pooja arrived exactly two hours after the decided time… but my God, she was limping, her left leg was swollen and bandaged. We ran towards her trying to help her walk towards the chair. She apologized frantically for the delay and told her how she had met with a small accident and though with great difficulty she kept her promise to meet up. She was as excited as I was. All my apprehensions of a change in others' behavior had gone by then. We were again back to our usual fun filled days, sipping yet another cup of hot coffee and yes, the hot and tasty samosas with some hot discussion topics queued up one after the other. Many of us spend the largest portion of our lives building our careers, and the softer aspects of life like friendships are often pushed to the corners, little realizing its importance. We keep meeting new people who become our acquaintances, but not friends. Some even have no one whom they can call in their bad times. They are at the mercy of life, standing alone. This is what I call living in a world ruled by materialism. We all are trapped into this world, but can we all not take some time out to remind our friends once in a while that we are there for each other?

Friends cheer us when we're depressed.
Friends challenge us to get beyond our reasonable boundaries.
Friends motivate us when we're ready to give in;
Friends are there for us when life falls apart.

…Probably, too many to list.

When God created the world and all the majestic things in it, when he streaked the heavens with radiant colours and the earth with grandeur of plains, oceans and mountains, he outdid all by creating friends.

Wishing you all Happy Friendship Day everyday Its never too late…your friend could be just a call away…waiting for your call /mail. Never lose out True friends because they are very precious and they like you for what you are!
A good friend is someone who knows the song in your heart, and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words."



- Contributed by - By Shwetha. R. Gadwal from N & S.