Yaari Dosti...

Watching ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and thinking about my FRIENDS. Looking back at the journey of life I am recollecting some moments when I met my friends. And thinking how my perception for friendship has changed over the time.

In kindergarten I used to think that everyone who cries when I start crying is my friend. Then as years passed, I started thinking that my classmates with whom I go to school, play and spend most of my time with are my friends. I still remember I was in 2nd standard when I first called my friend on her landline number. And I told my mom “look even I have a friend whom I can call on her number.” Later as days passed I started looking at my friends as safe lockers in which I can keep ‘secrets’. And with this came the expectations… Expectations of guarding the secrets… Expectations of keeping the trust. In school days when competition started becoming stiffer, friends gave some lighter moments. With them I started sharing my success and failures. With this came the emotional attachment. I lost touch with many of my schoolmates later. And few of them I am still in touch are my dear friends now.

Later in college days, I met people having similar goals, objectives and I realized that it is easier to get the comfort level with people if we have something in common with them. It may be the hobbies, interests or lifestyle. So I started looking at my friends as people who look at life in somewhat similar way as I do. Over the period of time I realized that friendship sans expectations has a long way to go. Now whether it is possible to keep this relation away from expectations is still a doubtful question. But one can definitely decrease the burden by removing some expectations.

I know my perception about the friendship will undergo some more changes in upcoming times. And I hope it will change for better. This one relation has taught me a lot. I have learnt to adjust. I have learnt to accept people around me as they are. So now I look at my friends as people with whom I can be myself… These are the people who are there for me in my good n bad times and who let me be with them in their good/bad times… Even though we are close to each other we never enter each other’s private space beyond certain limit.

I must say…having such wonderful people in life makes life worthwhile.