Blood is thicker than water…goes the adage! But at times we tend to build good and intimate relations with people around us, with those who are no way related to us and who stand by us all their life- we call them friends. In this postmodern world, when everyone is getting in terms with solitude, busy life schedules and musings over the absurdities of the fast moving and ever changing milieu. We are being exposed to heartbreaking incidents every now and then, and gradually losing trust in our cohabitants. The current scenario is such that we cannot generalize things, there is no sole dictum for living life , the concept of one ideal truth or ethical value cannot be applied in today’s life. Hence we cannot indulge in categorizing people as in terms of good or bad, in shades of black and white, there is an in-between trait like partly good and partly bad and shades of grey. Even then when we read about mishaps like bosom friend murdering the other for money, we cannot deny the reality that true friendship is still alive. Taking into consideration the emotional bonding we share with our close friends, it is fair to say that sometimes they are irreplaceable.
10. No Emotional Atyachaar (Torture)
Friends are people whom we can resort to get solace from the usual emotional drama staged by family members, no offense meant! One feels free and committed at the same time with a good friend around. The reason could be that one is conscious about the fact , there are no ties literally binding one with his/her friends, whereas in the case of family, lover, or any other relation, there is always an expected way of behaving with the other . We are not expected to shout at elders while to friends we can rip off the mask of social code of behaviour and just be ourselves.
9. Fun Factor
Be it a daring night out or an adventurous trekking, friends are all ready set for it. One can simply wake up a sleeping friend in the middle of night and lure them out for a night ride. The sneaking out of the house and the related risks involved becomes a real fun factor when friends are involved. The happiness and joy we derive out of these “lose control” phase cannot be redeemed with any other thing in the world.
8. Stress Busters
Spending a quality time with our friends gives an aura of entering a stress-free zone. The moments take away the worries like a whiff of air changing the course of time. It is indisputable, that at times family matters a lot, but the relationship with friends is holistic one, a call from a friend at times of distress makes us more relaxed. The best way to maintain any relationship is bring in a friendly approach to it.
7. Sense of Belonging
One good friend is enough to save a person from being lost in the dark recesses of solitude. The sense of belonging provided by a friend is one of main reasons why we stand for them no matter what hardships we have to undergo for the same. A feud can destroy familial relations but not friendship. The canopy of true friendship is so intense that it shall not permit the rays of loneliness creep in from any dimensions of life. May be, it is why people say good friends are gifts from the God.
6. Partners In Crime
What would have been life without those harmless lies and crimes we manage to plot and execute with our gang of friends. To pull each other’s legs to the cooperation shown in clearing the toughest exams, the list just goes on knowing no end at all. These priceless beings are our reasons to be in the class and be out of the class, ironically. The world would have been a better place if we did not engage in malpractices like throwing a chalk at the studious classmate who is listening to the boring lectures and the time the bell rings for lunch when we, like a swarm of bees, pounce on our friends’ lunch boxes.
5. Emergency Number
The emergency number is recorded in our memory from the day our friends take the responsibility of helping us out in dire situations like lying to our parents. This number becomes the refuge when some thug catches hold of us for not repaying the debts; despite the expletives hurled back from the other end of the phone, the help reaches us no sooner than we take a deep breath. In such a situation, if the phone ditches us by connecting us to our family, we feel it is better to be the thug’s prey than getting back home in the near future!!!
4. A Fine Balance
A juncture wherein we are made to chose between family and friends, the heart would say both. Friends, despite being the partners in crime help us maintaining this balance effectively by encroaching into our homes. Their being popular among the family members can be fatal for our well being for they shall act the ideal person in front of all forcing the family to go for a comparative study between us and our friends. They are the same mischievous lot who rescues us from the hands of nagging elders, they don the role of lifeguards at times.
3. Unlimited Freedom Package
A hedge between keeps friendship is green are golden words written on paper, but when it comes to real life, we cannot figure out what defines the boundaries. The sense of freedom is immense, we can share our feelings- unfiltered and unrefined to our friends, this package is strictly limited to friends; if we dare to do the same with our partners, we need to keep in mind the expense for a break up party, as it is an age of postmodern dialectics and we need to celebrate our own funeral!!! With family, if we go crude, then we are branded arrogant and lot more epithets even those not recorded in the lexicon .
2. Influence
Friends can influence us the most as they are the people with whom we share the dark secrets and the innate feelings and the vice versa. We are well versed with the maxim that a man is known by the company he keeps and in fact a true statement to define friendship. There is an aversion to parental advice till an age, and if we look back at those times, just our friends could actually make us do things in a snap that our family begged us to do from a long time. Often we wonder, what and why people who are not related to us by familial bonds occupy such an important place in our lives, we never reach a conclusion but silently enjoy the every single moment with our dear friends in this amazement.
1. The Virtual Mirror
Aristotle has said, “What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.” Going by this musing, a friend is in fact the virtual mirror in which we see ourselves. The negatives and drawbacks in our character can be chiseled out by our friends thereby helping us develop our persona. We feel comfortable in our friends’ company to express our foibles and usually our ego factor maintains a low profile when they rebuke us. Our life’s events and secrets ranging from the first crush to our death are metaphysically written in non palpable journals called friends. The worst fear is when we lose our friendship; they say friend-turned-foes are the most dangerous and worst enemies as they each and every aspect of our being. We learn to share and love life because of these notorious friends and hence better not to turn them as enemies as money can fetch one relationships but never a true and sincere friend or friends.
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