This post is about my friends.
One of my best friends is the reason why I'm writing this post. She informed me a few days ago that she reads my articles and blogs in the hopes that I have something to say about her or our group of friends. I was like “Naan avlo ellam worth illai di” and “Innuma nammala indha ulagam nambudhu!”. To be honest, I was thrilled to hear that. And that's what inspired me to write this post about my friends.
My earliest memory of a friend is when I was in pre-KG. The teacher asked us to stand in a horizontal line. My (then a few days old) friend was two kids away from me. So I quietly went and stood beside her and got a cuff on my head from the teacher 😐. Apparently the teacher must have made us stand in height order (so I was the first one in the queue 😂), and I had no idea about it. The girl I went and stood beside is still my close friend. Our friendship grew along with us.
Cousins are our first friends. That way, I have a very special one. We used to write letters to each other as kids and we couldn't wait for the holidays to meet. But whenever we did meet, we would always have a gala time. We still cherish those memories whenever we talk.
I think 80s kids are the last generation to lose their contacts with friends, as those were landline days. I too lost contact my college besties contacts for a few years. But thanks to FB and a common friend, I found them again. There are four of us and since then we are in constant touch with each other. Our audio calls last atleast 45 mins and our next group video call is still pending.
My ex-colleagues are another close friends, a group of four. We try to meet at least once a year. Even if we get only a few hours when we meet, we never miss a second without talking & laughing. Last summer we had planned a get-together, but corona overrode everything. I hope our plan works out next year.
The beauty of friendships is that we can resume with them at any time, no matter how many years have passed. Sometimes, after a long time, I ping a friend, or they ping me unexpectedly. And we simply pick up where we left off in our conversation. Moments like those are priceless. 😇
Some of the good friendships start with neighbors. I have such a few in Chennai & here as well, including my daughter’s friend’s mothers. The beauty of neighbors is they become family friends. They are my daily dose of energy as we are in touch, everyday or every other day.
The best conversations with years-old friendships are filled with “appollam naama...”, “hey, do you remember?”, “oh is it? I totally forgot”, “wow, those were the best days” and a lot of smiles & laughter. And whatsapp chats are the best, only with friends. They rarely happen, but when they do, they are never short, they go on for hours.
I am an introvert by nature, but an extrovert among friends. Looking back, I have had wonderful friends in every phase of my life. As I have just finished my thirties, I have quite a few friendships that are a few decades older, and they are precious indeed.
Friends,
They understand.
They encourage.
They appreciate.
They advise.
But more than anything—they listen.
They laugh with you…and sometimes, at you 😂.
East or West.
Women-to-Women friendships are the best.
