My best friend’s name is...!?

I was home after 7 long months.

Hydrabad was a nightmare. No! its not the city but the life as a GATE aspirant there. The hostellife was something i confronted for the first time. It wasn’t a happy engineering college hostel, but one where everyone was running a race. There was no time for friendship or any other relations there. Every morning race started at 4 am for bathroom, and then next one was at breakfast counter, followed by the race to catch a decent place for the whole day lectures in the class of 250 students’ n so on...

Spicy andhra meals every day, lonely hours in library, tensed nights.. All these brought tearsinto my eyes. Each time I remembered my old friends, my classroom at sdm, that comfortable atmosphere. but nothing of it was there. I remembered my home. Taking care of ourselves all alone was tougher than I had thought. But it was my own choice i had to live through it.. 7 months..

I was back home finally. To a new home in Bangalore. The feeling of being home was so nice that I felt those 7 months were never real. It was like I was never gone. I at once wanted to meet my friends. I had realised what was life without them. I never expected anything from my friends in college but I always wanted them to be there around me. It was so comfortable when they were around. I was recollecting all good times I had in college life with them, standing on the gallery with my mug of tea. I was watching kids play. They were playing a game I hadn’t known.

I tried to trace out the game.

A small girl in pink frock was made to stand in an imaginary circle, her other friends surrounded her. The girl who was in circle was to shout this with her eyes closed- “my best friend’s name is... “n then she shouted a name, “kiran”... By that time other girls ran to their capacity in different directions. The girl who was in imaginary circle was to reach one of them in three hops, eyes open.

The girl in pink frock was so small that her long jump hardly covered some 30 inches for her. She wasn’t able to reach anyone. Poor girl! she was made to do it again. All other kids clapped happily for they all had survived the game, but the disappointment on small girl’s face made even me sad for a while. kiddo feet of hers were failing her every time.

She was den for one more time... she shouted out again from her circle, “my best friend’s nameis... kiran”. It was now 5^th time she had lost, and suddenly another girl who was little older to her shouted!! Cheating cheating cheating!!! She was wearing a nice greenish dress. I suddenly felt more concentrated towards the game. What was it? Did that small girl cheat? I wanted to know. Other girls approached the girl in green skirt; one of them asked-what happened?

Girl in green skirt said as though she had spotted world’s biggest crime happening, “What is this?” She said.. “she is telling the same name again and again. This is cheating! From very first game she is telling my best friend’s name is kiran!! cheating. You have to take different name every time”.

I was caught by what I had just heard. Ha ha... what was it.?? The den was expected to change her best friends name every new game. n more to that all other girls completely agreed to what girl in green skirt had said. Yes yes was the unanimous answer!! And the girl in pink skirt now shouted “my best friend’s name is sachin!!!”

Ha ha.. They continued with their game. I suddenly realised all motto behind her telling to change best friends name was, to stop game from being repetitive. Earlier, she shouted same thing every time; every one ran to same places each time. N the game was just getting repetitive. With her best friend now being sachin, there was some change, apparently some psychological change, atleast some thing was different with every trial.

Innocent kids!! They carried on, girl in pink skirt never argued. She didn’t argue saying “but he is my best friend why am I supposed to say some other name?” the need came and she just did whatever a senior in team told her to do. May be she was scared that she wouldn’t be taken for the next game if she argued, or maybe she just didn’t realise that she was changing her “best friend” just because a girl in green skirt told her to. In her innocence she called out divya as her best friend next time.

We too do that na.. i.e. changing our best friends... don’t we? But out of innocence? I’m not sure.

People are best friends to us, or we are friends to others for not so long time, atleast not for life. People are friends until they no longer have any need of one another. Do we really see friendship of rancho raju and farhan around us? Would we bunk our exam for friend’s dad? Can we jump from principal’s office for the sake of a friend who saved your dad!? It sounds foolish to do all that, right? That is extreme! I mean giving life and all crap. But can we at least be there for a friend when in need? Or respect a friend who is no longer in a good state as much as we did in his/her good times? I don’t see these examples much around. Friendship rots in no time. And somebody new becomes our best friend again in no time. We don’t even have time to feel sorry for just ended friendship! It hurts to see this. Have come across many such examples in these 21 years of my life. And that really hurts sometimes. I still wonder what friendship is though many claim to me that they are my best friends. I will only know when bad times come. I don’t want bad times to come though, just to know who my real friends are.

But I want to tell them all.. I’ll always be there.. Without any expectations or demands.. for I have realised in these 7 months what is life without friends... whatever u people are, or wherever u ppl r.. My best friends’ names... will not be changed in trails of life... and I shall always be there^*

^*and the applied condition is- as long as u deserve it!