The Friendship Business

Hello people! Yet another long stretch of no blog entry, I admit. But I am not grumbling about not having sufficient time or thought to scribble about (or perhaps I am). 

So here we are on the first Sunday of August, better known as- International Friendship Day. The day was proposed in Paraguay in 1958 and since then has been creating a great amount of delirium all over. The spirit of the day is refreshing and manages to drown us in the pool of nostalgia and sentimentality. What I recall when I hear 'Friendship Day' is the Fridays and Saturdays prior to the D- day back in primary section when all our minds had to concentrate on were the belts in our bags and on our lower arms. Studies and everything associated with it were absolutely secondary then. I have memories of the well- planned outings meant for purchasing the bands for our so- called friends who would probably be denied oxygen in case we fail to tie a belt around their wrists. Girly chains, fancy belts, decorative stripes, masculine bands and what not! We hardly ever bothered about what would happen to that useless trash before decomposition. I also get reminded of the physical agony we gladly chose to undergo, courtesy: more than a dozen bands clung to the wrists extending towards the elbow.

The joy we experienced in flaunting was magical. The pride we took in moving around with them- immense. And the pleasure we derived out of all that in entirety was simply irreplaceable. 

Be that as it may, now that we are a little more competent, I retrospect upon all those events and pity those who still believe and follow the tradition religiously. The whole idea doesn't please me. On the contrary, a friend would avoid inflicting pain (which he/she is precisely doing by means of that band) in any possible fashion. A friend would genuinely lend a ear when you need to share something. A friend would be a part of your ecstasy and even be the reason of it. A friend would usher you through darkness to the best of his abilities and hope for nothing in return. A great friendship can take years to build up and a single day is just not enough to prove our friendly feelings to anyone. 

Why don't we pause for a while and give this a thought? Over the decades, has our sensibility been so lazy as to not even allow us to think rationally? To all those crazy fellows wasting the time of their lives exchanging belts and cutting cakes and flooding their Facebook/ Twitter/ Instagram profiles with countless snaps, i honestly think you should 'grow up' in real sense.

 Having a few quality friends, with unsaid promises that they will be there for you no matter what, is going to add more substance to your life than congregating "likes" of total strangers and gaining their adoration.

Is It All So Worthless?

Few days back I was insisted upon by a group of friends to visit the nearby riverfront to enjoy the pleasing weather. I, sans an objection, agreed because it’s good to watch the wrathful waves and the soothing evening sky with a little less cacophony than usual.

You might be wondering why I am I up to all this but let me tell you- stop thinking so much as you have a lot more coming up to keep yourselves busy.

As we parked our vehicles, what caught our attention was a huge crowd gathered near the parapet. We smelled the obvious, one of us blurted ‘suicide’!

Now, possessing an overtly active human conscience, we ran towards the crowd (and no stopping us then) as if we were to dive inside and come out with our foolish fellow beings (hopefully alive). After gathering some piece of information from a sincere follower of the ongoing activities, we got to know that a couple travelling in an auto, pulled over in the middle of the bridge and escaped (safely) into the water. There was a boat anxiously looking for a life worth saving and the ambulance anticipating its inhabitant and some media officials with a bunch of policemen.

Having known this much, I quietly drifted away from the rather concerned sympathizers and those that occupied themselves by mockery.

I wonder what must be so strong a reason that led someone to end his life in this manner.

Why are we all so scared of the inevitable failures and the unfortunate events of our lives? Why do we suddenly become so selfish and think about nothing else except relieving ourselves of our troubles? Why does the happiness of someone else fail to encourage us to keep moving? How can we forget those who count on us for a great company and love us the way we are? How can we overlook the simplest of pleasures that life has to offer us? What makes us pass over all our cheerful moments and the innumerable reasons to laugh for some silly issue? Most important of all, why do we not realize that the life we are leading is also a dream of millions and appreciate our existence?

We all have our share of problems and life was never a bed of roses but self- slaughter is not the real solution. Let's, for once, act our age and confront our predicaments. Plus there is no guarantee that the grass is greener on the other side. Unfortunately, being patient is not something our reflex is very good at. However, we can still try! We never know what’s in store for us unless it is served. It’s time we stop grumbling and start adoring our imperfect lives. 

Feedback is welcome.

Thank You :)

Mixed Bag

Hello there! Yes, the debut post is a mixed bag. A bag of multitude of emotions, rants, complains, thoughts, and contemplations in consonance with a little less or negligible expression in some cases. A lot has been going on in here which has now, thankfully, paved its way to the screens before you, dear readers.

Before I go about ranting, I genuinely thank a few friends for inspiring and encouraging me to do this.

To begin with, I am not particularly very excited about the current headlines that our newspapers publish. It still seems to me like a horrifying nightmare but since even nightmares are to end someday for a beautiful morning to take birth, I like to reassure myself with a hope that whatever happens is a part of His wonderful master plan and holds good for everybody.

Likewise, we all have our share of woes, don’t we? Be it our excruciating educational setup which requires us to merely pass the examinations by all the possible (un)ethical means; our relationships which define us, make us and break us; our weight issues; our psychological apprehensions; our social enigmas; our career dilemmas and what not! In response to all of these inevitable affairs, I tend to hope of a better morrow. With an ounce of optimism and gallons of imperfection, I like to embrace my shortcomings and wish to witness a great fate. :)

Comments are welcome!

Thank you