Friends….

God could not be everywhere so he made Mother. The devil was jealous and he sent his agents to earth in the form of friends. These little devils make your life complete. You fight with them, joke with them, fill them with depressing events of your life, abuse them, but they always stay by your side, as a rock.

When in school i never had many friends. I agree i talked to everyone and was in good terms with everyone in the class but i never had what you call a “true friend”. May be my “triumvirate” back home was a reason. But then when i moved out of home in 2003 and started living as paying guest, for two years, Roshni and Sewali were my best friends. May be they filled the gap of my sisters back home, but i cannot deny that their presence in my life meant a lot to my existence.

I always believed i am very self-centered and can never be a good friend, who can put friendship before self. I was proved wrong when i shifted base to Kolkata in 2005. Those 14 people (well when we took admission we were 24, eventually people shifted to Medicine) made me change myself for the good. For 5 years i breathed “Physiopals” and nothing else. To an extent, that when i had to choose between two streams for  Post graduation, my initial reaction was how many of them would be in the same campus with me.

Like i always say if i ever write my autobiography, Physiopals would make 60% of it. Bham alone can make 5 chapters if not more. Apart from him, i could not possibly leave behind Hussain who has been a part of my life for 3 years almost. He stuck to me during hard times and gave the much needed shoulder to cry. Ritu (who people mistakenly thought was  my girlfriend,some people still do) had been my best mate for sessions of PNPC at the British council Library (we enjoy the status of a BCL couple for the same reason). Not just PNPC, we share a good chemistry too, had i been straight she might have considered marrying me (would not she Bham?).

The latest entry to my list of friends has been Sukhi. We met on the internet, by chance. He furthered my spirit of writing and gave me the push i needed to continue. Gaylaxy has been the medium i had always craved for and he gave it to me in silver platter. Our friendship has grown and will blossom in the years to come (i hope).

And when i say internet buddies i can never miss out Arsalan, can I? He had been center of my attention for one and half years until one fine day India chose to break ties with Pakistan (and he got busier in his career). Now we chat on online messengers but i miss talking to him on phone.

Friendship is not about having friends. Its about being a friend. Good or bad, the other person will decide. A relationship has its share of commitments and duties. But in a friendship, you can take him for granted and he will never bother.

I dug the earth in search of pearl

I discovered a piece of coal

I threw it into the sea

The sea returned a diamond.

P.S. I did not mention Twitter because it would have made a separate post.