Friendship – the best bond that you could have.

[zodiac_watcher]

In this world, throughout our life time, we create many bonds and ties that link us to the others around us.
These vary from establishing relationship with your near and dear ones from the family, your work place colleagues, your companions from your school & college days, and even the non-verbal affectionate pets that you keep. The nature of the relationship may be different, but the bottom line is that each one of these categories has some impact on our life or the other. We term this relationship as “friendship” as it means closeness or companionship of a sort.
People have a very narrow definition of friendship and adhere to only alliance between outsiders like school / college mates or co-workers. But in actual sense, this feeling of togetherness or cordiality can start from the family itself & move out to even your four legged pets.
According to me, a “friend” is some one who shares a most pure and unconditional relationship with you. It knows no boundaries of caste, creed, sex or age. There should be no demands of any kind in friendship. The feeling of warmth and togetherness should be mutual and selfless. You cannot come in contact with a person and cling on to him /her for some ulterior motives. If your mind is plagued by such thoughts, then the whole exercise of creating the sacred bond of friendship is lost.

Who do you think is an “ideal’’ friend? Well, for once, the person should pledge to be your associate or companion under ANY circumstances. Expectations should be zero and support 100%. One does not need to have friends for monetary support or social standings. A true friend lends you an attentive ear to hear out your problems, a strong shoulder to support you and to lean on when you feel down in dumps, a comforting embrace to assure you in time of crisis that he is ALWAYS there by your side.
Remember, it does not necessarily be an outsider. It can be your mother, father, sibling, relative, and cousin, just anyone from the family, apart from your work place colleagues or academic buddies.

But the fact remains that the most unconditional support and whole hearted contribution comes from external sources rather than family ones. Many times we feel that if a family member or relative lends you any support, there is always a heaviness of living the rest of your life under their obligation. But as far as external friends are concerned, there is not much involvement or probing in your private life, apart from the help extended. These are the sources with whom you can share your heart’s innermost secrets and not feel uncomfortable about it. They know to give sound advice and yet not assert their thoughts on you. You have the liberty to make your own decisions after taking their advice. Unlike family members, the decisions are not forced upon you.

Friends are the ones whose company gives us a chance to relax, to unwind, to laugh, to retrospect, to plan some mischievous activities, to go on long drives, have a memorable trip to wonderland and most importantly, to be JUST YOU!!! There are no pretences, no charades, no unreasonable demands………..just some quality time and pure fun!!!
They are the strong pillars of support in your time of crisis, tender in approach when you are feeling low and great morale boosters. Sometimes members of the family, who you think are your friends, can show a pang of jealousy in your achievements. But these super guys call it a time for celebration!! Their concerns, good wishes and congratulatory talks are genuine. Family “friends” can put on a mask of happiness for your success & behind the mask may hide a green jealous monster. But this is not so with the “outsiders”.

Take the examples of your pets. They sense your moods very well. If you are happy and give them an affectionate hug, they respond by cuddling up to you. If you are feeling depressed, then they try to cheer you with their cheerful, funny antics. They are the best stress busters that you can ever come across. And they do all this unconditionally. That is why pets, especially dogs are termed as man’s best friend.

Finally, to summarize, we can say that friendship is a bond that was created by humans and basically designed by god. One can be a very fortunate soul if you get good friends in this life. Because when we finally call it a day, money, wealth, health, does not go with us. What we take with us when we close our eyes for the last time, are some fond memories of our life time, which make our journey to eternity a memorable experience.