Friendship Day(s) are here again!

Apparently it was Friendship Day today (3rd August). Well, my roomie just corrected me by saying that because today was the first Sunday in August, it is Friendship Day and not because it is the 3rd of August. For someone who spent 4 years in a hostel and then two years now away from home in the US, it is not really a surprise that my life has passed in such a way that the thin line between friends and family has been kind of fogged. These days I don’t really differentiate between them. In fact sometimes I feel that I am more comfortable with my friends than with family (barring my parents and my sister of course)!

Students of sociology and the associated sciences would affirm to the fact that this is just a logical phase in one’s life and I am inclined to agree with the same. But I don’t really agree that these relationships that form an integral part of life should be celebrated. Why do you want to just put a day aside and say today is “Friendship Day”? Aren’t friendships (or for that matter, any other relationship) a clear part of everybody’s life as they live it? Wouldn’t “Magic Nathan” be my friend if I don’t send him a line thanking him for being a part of my life? I am sure he won’t react in the most negative sense and disavow our friendship (which I am quite glad to say, goes back like 18 years now), but I think he would be miffed. But then, he is miffed with any such trivial proceeding or the lack thereof. So life goes on.

Sorry dude, no virtual greeting cards today. Too much waste of bandwidth. I am using that bandwidth to put up this posting, so the world will be enriched. That is just why my father/mother does not get a greeting card for “Father’s Day/Mother’s Day". I am sure they don’t really care, because they hail from the days when India was still a sheltered and closed economy and Archie’s was still a figment of someone’s imagination in India. I think of you everyday guys, so I am sure you don’t really want me to send you an e-card just to say so. And Magic dude, I am sure you will understand that, if the situation demands, I would gladly spend four hours inside an entertainment center (if you find a size that will accommodate me).

But yeah, courtesy demands that if I get a card today, I reply to it either with a similar card or e-mail. I am doing that just now. “Magic” sent us all (the group) a mail on the account of today with a sweet verse affirming his sense of belonging to the group and how we are his friends. Dude, you have already done enough for all of us. We know you. This posting is actually in response to that email. Now another friend of mine, who normally does not resort to such sugary emotions, sent me a card and I dutifully sent her one in return. Hope that’s enough saccharine for all you biker babes out there. It’s enough for me. And yeah, no offense meant to all you “Friendship Day” fanatics. Send me a card and I will send you one in return. Don’t shun me completely. As John Lennon once said “I get by with a little help from my friends”. So do I.

And to end today’s post, I have to include something from what is probably the best ode to friendships in the modern world – the NBC sitcom FRIENDS!!! (Non-believers please excuse!!)

QOTD – 1: “Married a lesbian, left a man at the altar, married a gay ice dancer, threw a girl's wooden leg in the fire, lived in a box!” (Monica describing each of the “Friends”)

QOTD – 2: "Ross…. Joey. Joey…Ross." (Monica, introducing Ross and Joey to each other for the first time)