Friends Forever

Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose....... Tennessee Williams

Friends can be defined as our chosen family. They are the people we are not connected by blood but by heart. They have great impact in making us who we are. They influence our thoughts and actions in a subliminal way.

Not everyone we meet, greet and are acquainted with can be regarded as friends. There may be people we are in very good term of a relationship, nevertheless, it is not enough to give the relationship the title of “friendship”.

There is a special bond of affection, kindness and love among friends. These feelings are strengthened by the cement of trust.

I think the most important thing a friend provides is a comfort zone where you can pour your heart out without the fear of being judged, ridiculed or deceived.

Of course, such a relationship doesn’t build up overnight but gradually. However, there is always some starting point where you decide to give your relation the chance of this gradual development.

Some times, our first interaction with a friend is quite simple. We meet, we liked each other and became friends. At other times, it is dramatic. We meet, we didn’t like each other, wanted to maintain distance but gradually became closer. There can be greater kind of drama in people’s friendship story.

The story I am going to share today is not that dramatic yet not that simple. It is about a friendship I had with a girl when I was in class seven. It was in 2004.

When I was in class 6 my school was changed. Shifting of a school is an event that brings quite many changes to a child’s life. We find new environment. We leave our former friends behind.

In the new environment of the new school among new people we are alone. Making friends and finding mates of our kind is one of the foremost thing we do after entering the school.

Most of the time, we get closer with our desk mate.

During that year, my desk mates changed several times. I didn’t get very close to all but. I liked that girl and thought that I would continue to sit with her in the next class. (Say her name was F)

There was a group of girls in that class that I was not very appreciative of. I don’t know exactly why I didn’t like them, but the fact is that I disliked them any way.

They looked to me a bit gang type. Say like the ones who do not let any outsider in.

There was a girl (say her name is A) in that group whose silly actions and questions made me feel annoyed at times. I never thought of befriend with her.

Anyways, the academic year ended and we moved to the next class. It was the first day of class 7. You know the first day is another holiday for many students 😂. There was quite lesser strength in the class.

I had a plan to sit with F, but she was absent that day. A had a plan to sit with Z but she was also absent.

So it happened that day I sat with her. (We had desks in our class on which two pupils sat together.) She said to me, “You may sit with me just for today. When Z will come she will sit here.”

I was like, “Okay......(in my mind “I don’t want to sit with you either. Haaaaaah!”

That day passed. F and Z didn’t come the next day too. We sat together.

Those two days we talked to each other. Nothing special. Just casual affairs about ourselves.

In those days, my view about her changed. She was a loving and caring girl. Her acts that I interpreted as silly were out of her innocence.

Both of us liked each other to the extent that we didn’t want to be parted.

When the class was full the third day and the class teacher started allocating seats to the students (the teachers would decide who would sit with whom), both of us were praying that the teacher may let us sit together.

It happened. We sat together on the same desk. Our friendship kept on growing. In fact, mine and hers name was started being called together.

We studied together in the same school till class 10. It was the first day of class 7 till the last of class 10 we were always together.

We spent so many memorable moments together working together for science and arts projects, going to spelling bee competition, having lunch etcetra. We laughed together and we cried together.

After class 10, each of us went to a different academic institute. Though we were physically parted, yet we still had a contact.

Both of us had similar courses for intermediate. During exams we called each other to discus how the particular paper went.

After intermediate, she got married. Married life becomes busier. We were still connected. Though the frequency of our contact decreased.

Both of us got busy in our lives but we have not parted from each other. Yes, our contact happens only once in a blue moon, but we are still connected with the same level of sincerity.

In fact, a few days ago, I was thinking of her and there she was on the WhatsApp with a message asking how I was😀 .

It didn’t happen once. It happened multiple times. When anyone of us is missing the other, the other contacts out of the blue. Isn’t it amazing?

It means our hearts are connected. Robert Southey has rightly said

No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.

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This is my participation for Hive Learner’s featured contest

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