It was Friendship Day last weekend and throughout the day I was reminded about how we used to celebrate it as kids. How things suddenly seem so different. No, I'm not 80 years old! But the celebrations of friendship has changed considerably.
As kids the preparations for the day would begin months in advance. We would begin collecting wool at least a month in advance. Then the laborious process would begin. We would braid the wool into different patterns (get mom's to do when we were younger). We would make 'special' bands for our 'best friends'. The not-so-good ones would be reserved for acquaintances or 'emergencies'!
Everyone got a 'friendship band'. We were judged by the number of bands we received. They acted like a measure. We were judged by the number of friends we had. We still are! We are forever judged by the kind and the number of friends we have.
A 'best friend' would normally be the person sitting next to you in class/bus. The ones who stayed with you for a couple of years became 'friends for life'. Why then did it suddenly become so complicated?
I think we all started growing up. We realized that 'best friends' and 'friends for life' didn't exist. Our bubble about friendship began to burst. We began to get very selective about our friends.
We all manage different sets of friends. Friends from school, college, neighborhood, hobby classes etc. Some people know how to strike a balance. Some others get carried away with one set that they forget that the others exist. Strings begin to strain. New strings are attached everyday. Stings get shuffled. One day you realize that it's just you holding on to the sting. The other person has let it go.
No, I am not a loner who hates making friends. I may not be the most friendliest person on earth, but I do have friends. Whatever changes my definition of friendship has gone through and the many branches that it now has - additions, deletions, the ones I've stopped caring about, the ones I've started caring about, the ones that have become stronger, the ones that have become weaker, I am really proud of all those because somewhere they define me.
As kids the preparations for the day would begin months in advance. We would begin collecting wool at least a month in advance. Then the laborious process would begin. We would braid the wool into different patterns (get mom's to do when we were younger). We would make 'special' bands for our 'best friends'. The not-so-good ones would be reserved for acquaintances or 'emergencies'!
Everyone got a 'friendship band'. We were judged by the number of bands we received. They acted like a measure. We were judged by the number of friends we had. We still are! We are forever judged by the kind and the number of friends we have.
A 'best friend' would normally be the person sitting next to you in class/bus. The ones who stayed with you for a couple of years became 'friends for life'. Why then did it suddenly become so complicated?
I think we all started growing up. We realized that 'best friends' and 'friends for life' didn't exist. Our bubble about friendship began to burst. We began to get very selective about our friends.
We all manage different sets of friends. Friends from school, college, neighborhood, hobby classes etc. Some people know how to strike a balance. Some others get carried away with one set that they forget that the others exist. Strings begin to strain. New strings are attached everyday. Stings get shuffled. One day you realize that it's just you holding on to the sting. The other person has let it go.
No, I am not a loner who hates making friends. I may not be the most friendliest person on earth, but I do have friends. Whatever changes my definition of friendship has gone through and the many branches that it now has - additions, deletions, the ones I've stopped caring about, the ones I've started caring about, the ones that have become stronger, the ones that have become weaker, I am really proud of all those because somewhere they define me.
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