True friends are really rare these days, we have become so engrossed in pursuing our hectic lifestyles that we are sure losing this thing. We have colleagues, we have co passengers, we have booze buddies, we have neighbours and of course relatives. But do we have true friends? One of those people which our parents had till the last day of their life, or we had when we were in college? Who used to laugh with us when we laughed, cry with us when we cried and helped us to bunk the class and go out with our beloved? We knew our friends will always be there when the professor will scold us, he wont even try to be on his good book, or smirk at our humilliation. He will stand like a rock, his face showing as if he was also being scolded with us? I guess not, we have left that person back in college if we have moved out of our hometown and settled to some place other. Even if they are around, then too, that bonding is replaced with priorities at both ends. Some one is more involved with life, some one with love, some one with family and some one with career.
Our generation is a weird generation, our parents had bossom friends even at the ripe old age, but most of us have lost close friends ever since we left college. Those days, when we used to chat our heads off with a person, who used to listen to each and every word we spoke, and used to chat crazily in return having us as apt listener have been lost long ago.
I last had such a friend in 1996, after joining my first job. She was my last bossom friend but she was not of professional mindset, she got married within three months of joining the job and left india. Even though I have found a few good friends after that, but she was my last real life bossom body.
In contrast to common belief I have found some really good friends in internet, but in real life, they are rare. People say that net friends cant be trusted but my experience is different, I have found so many good friends via internet that it has taught me what real, unselfish friendship is. These friends trusted me, guided me, humored me and showered me with fabulous emails, brightening up my days. In the course of last four year or so I have picked up diamond after diamond on net. One of them is still in my life as a one of his own kind friend. Even though he doesnot believes it but his heart and character is made of pure gold. I have never seen such a person in my entire life. With such pure character and stable friendship.
In a pleasant turn of life this year has filled up my arms with the very best friends that can exist in this world. Now i have stopped counting their numbers. My time is fully occupied with them.
The reason behind our not having flesh and blood friends is most probably our lack of faith in colleagues. As most of us relocate for job, like I have, we leave our college friends behind, and are too busy to make friends outside our office circle. So, we console ourselves with the superficial workplace friendships, where we have to watch our words, or else they may cost our jobs. That is one of the reason people cant be intimate with colleagues, because it may cost his or her career.
I don’t know about other people like me, who are completely engrossed in career life, and are as tactless as me, if they can always keep a watch on their tongue when they are out in the office. I cant so I end up regretting often mistaking a colleague as a friend, and miss those friends with whom I could be dead confident that I can say or do any thing.
The other drawback of office friends is when you change job mostly you lose them because they are too busy to keep contact with you. I have come in touch with some fabulous colleagues and have tried to maintain the contact with them, but all of them have drifted apart, and I have maintained my policy of life, the door of my heart is forever open to my friends, they can come and go at any time. They will never find some one locking or blocking their path.
Kingmaker 14 on 16th Jan 2011
13 years ago
My dear friend, my life experience taught me that friendship, be it in person or over the net is a very time and energy consuming experience. If you go for it, you go for it no matter who is the object of friendship - a real person or a computer image. You know, I prefer real people. Person to person relations are so to say "more energy saving", because you do not waste yourself to the computer. Istead, you enjoy touching, watching, tasting, smelling, and, if presense is not affordable, at least - hearing. My strong conviction is that we need to practice senses in our friendship. Whatever senses available at the moment. If God would think, that distant communication via telepathy or computer was enough for a human being to be fulfilled with relations, all he would empower us with would just be siddhis, and not senses. Our sesnory persception of friendship is what makes us feel humans, not computers in friendship.
ReplyDeleteNow, turning to friendship in persons: rarely are we fulfilled with peer to peer friendship. It is always one being exhausted on the behalf of the other(s). This is more visible with aging, as less energy remains in us compared to, say, college years. But that is also time when wisdom steps in and we start moderating our relations as to our needs, balancing between emotional, intellectual and physical aspects of our friendship and the energy and time we are able to contribute with. This wisdom makes us more selective about our friends, but also more careful and loving about those we finally select. This is the bonus we get for or age.
And for the college friends I also keep my door open. There is a silent consent between us, that whenever they reappear, we start from the poin when they left, bearing in mind our mutual past. Such attitude prevents me from being dissapointed my people and helps maintaining generally good relations with them.
Finally, I come to the tongue, which is said to be our worst enemy. With time I started appreciating it as my best friend, since it always the swift expression of my subcon. If my subcon has wronged a friend in a way inadmissible for him/her (which rarely happens), in the long run it normally proves to be one of the two: either the person was not the right friend for me, or I was not the right friend.
Thanks for the article, it was full of wisdom and healthy emotions.
dear s,
ReplyDeletei too agree in your perspectives about friendship, friendship doesnot ends just because two persons have changed cities.. it remains just where we left it..
thanks for reading it so seriously..
with warmest affections,
trisha
Well, it is about all of us, isn't it? And we all take friendship seriously.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes
Shiamala
According to my father, in the whole life a man / woman can have achieved a lot of things. Manage to live within a lot of relationships, most of them being very healthy like husband - wife, father - son or daughter, mother - son or daughter, brothers, sisters, etc. a man / woman cannot find a real friend in his / her whole life.
ReplyDeleteThis is true. Absolutely true, s in this materialistic world, if we try to sacrifice something for my friend, everybody, even that friend of mine will treat me as a fool.
Thanks for this great topic and a nice post with real personal feelings. Thanks to Shiamala as well, for the comment as elaborate as the blog post itself. ;-)
trisha,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of 2 persons, whom I consider the most sincere friends of my life:
One of them was my classmate in (Technical) College (Year 2000-02). We studied together for only 2 years but we are still connected to each other through calls and sms.
And the second one is a girl who is not only my friend but she is also a 3rd sister of me. I got her introduction through an online forum of BlogCatalog.Com
trisha, If you also want to see and make her a friend of yours too, then all you have to do is to visit her B.C profile at :
www.BlogCatalog.Com/user/thought
dear s,
ReplyDeletei guess so.. but the tricky side is we can never know ..
dear shankha,
ReplyDeletei have found so many priceless friends that i humbly contradict with your father, but the funny part is that they all are net friends, so may be your father was right :( or wrong :) that time will tell...
keep the faith.
dear ibne hanif,
ReplyDeletethe friend i referred to in the above is pradeep, and rarely a day passes when we dont exchange atleast one sms. if both side are equally keen to keep the friendship, i dont think any thing can come in between but their/one of their spouses :) :)
i sure will love to meet the person who means so much to you.
warmest affections.
dear brother,
ReplyDeletethat was really very naughty.. i checked the url after answering to your remark :)
Dear sister,
ReplyDeletebelieve me thought's thoughts are really inspiring.
Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and intellectual posts on various spheres of life.
Dear sister I like all of your blogs and highly appreciate the way you see human life and also your unique style of transforming your thoughts into perfumed words. (but, I no more like movies and music.)
I am so grateful to you for your encouraging comments wich you leave at my blog.
Respected trisha, I also want to tell you that, I think there are a very few just and open minded people left on this world and I think you are one of them. Only people like you inspire me to remain in touch with the world wide web.
May you live long and have more and more wisdom to serve even the whole humanity !
Amen.
dearest bro,
ReplyDeletei am not much fond of movies, i can do without them but to me music is must, its my life, it works as my teacher, my connection with god and as my friend...
i dont have that much confidence on my works :(
you are a wonderful person, one in a million, its people like you who make this world beautiful. be like this always.
with warmest affections,
trisha