It may have been a chance meeting at a neighbourhood park when you were five. Or perhaps, a series of incidents while being classmates in primary school. Perhaps it was a casual conversation at a dance class that began it, or may be it was when they joined your football team that the friendship struck. Perhaps yours was a story that opened up unexpectedly while browsing for Shakespeare’s Sonnets in the library, or may be it was just a heart-warming “Is everything okay?”at the office canteen that sealed the bond. Maybe it was dramatic, like meeting them for the first time when your car broke down in the rains, or perhaps simply a story so unassumingly charming that you actually can’t even remember how it all began!
And just like every friendship has its own adorable beginning, it has its own unmatched meaning in our lives. They are there to give us the best motivating pep talks before our presentation in class or first job interview, and they are also the ones to send us screenshots of their Whatsapp chats, asking advice on how to reply! They are there to post the most embarrassing throwback pictures, and they are also the ones to rush to the nearest pharmacy to buy your medicines! It’s overwhelming to think about how rare and beautiful, simple yet mysterious, a gift friendship is. Infact, recent studies behind the ‘Science of Friendship’ have confirmed what we seemed to have always known instinctively “ Infact, a 2015 analysis revealed that the absence of social connections carried the same health risk as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day!
Indeed, some of the most endearing friendships are the most unexpected “ with the quietest girl in class, the hard-working peon at office, the friendly vegetable vendor down the street, or even the little squirrel by your window.
As the world celebrates International Friendship Day on August 5, let’s take a long moment to cherish these guardian angels who brighten up our own little world. Let’s be grateful for every friend that life has gifted us “ the friend who always wants to take a selfie, the friend who is always “on the way”, the friend you can never be serious with. To the ones we’ve grown apart from, let’s put in special efforts to rekindle that magical relationship. To the ones we have let silly arguments go on for too long, let’s finally post that handmade ‘Sorry’ card.
And yet, it’s also true that our past may have sometimes forced us to firmly close the door on this beautiful bond. May this friendship day gift us the courage to throw open the window of our soul once more and allow the light to set in. May we stop searching and waiting for true friends, and instead focus every effort to “be one”.
For true friendship is one of those rare, untouched, magical bits of heaven that we still have to hold on to, to sail us towards our chosen harbours, to nudge us towards our deepest dreams, to hug us with a healing touch and to share with us this crazy adventure called life...
