Our Buddy...It's Friendship, Pal

It's amazing how frequently I happen to make friends...but alas!...only to lose track of them in a jiffy! And what is even more astonishing(apparently least amusing for me though...though I just can't help chuckling at myself) is that my head is always full of friends, and my mailbox devoid of their messages. And this is supposed to be the age of communication boom. Hmm...How funny, and what a comic irony, tragic at my expense!

Soon after high schools were a matter of the past, friends were under the influence of the 'centrifugal force' of globalisation in the education and the job markets, with no time to keep in touch with good old buddies. Well, so far as that friend is going ga-ga over life, it's fine. But what about those who meet only to part? Really is maintaining contact too cumbersome a task in the present era of mails and mobiles? Do we need a tear-jerker soap opera to remind people that a friend in need is a friend in indeed!

But then again, on a more serious note, can anyone be blamed for chasing one's dreams? As horizons get stretched by the second, new vistas of opportunities assert themselves and we, the swashbuckling sensations of the now and for ever, dive headlong into the vast ocean of potentials coming in mounting waves to allow us to realise ourselves. But it is not all to do with mere individualism. One realises oneself most in a group which tends to intrude into and intermingle with such other groups, picking up new tools from each other in its perpetual endeavour to make this world a better place to live in. That's the magic of a global village, so long as we do not become too avaricious, and eat into each other's freedom of thought, if not of expression. After all, 'avarice' is a cardinal sin not for nothing.

So it's better, you know, if we can cut down a bit on selfish materialism, to make room for our more humane components to gush in. After all, friendship is not, and should not be, just a utilitarian use-n'-throw concept. It's the basis of all relationships. Friendship should be something just more than a good night's sleep; it should be more than a mere rejuvenating mechanism.

It is good to make friends, but perhaps...it is more important to make each friendship a lifelong affair. Being workaholic is finely compatible with making friends and keeping the ship of friendship cruise through this gem of a journey that calls itself 'life'.

So, every buddy out there! What do we need to do? Philosophise! No, not really. In this era of "sick hurry and divided ends" we need to be sincere also towards friendship, not just with the motive of reaping material returns. Perhaps it is not out place to make mention of the emerging breed of psychological counsellors, who for all practical purposes, are, so to say, 'paid friends'.

Finally, calling all friends of the world('every buddy', that is!)...let's live, laugh and love.