How many friends does a man need? (Somewhat on the lines of "How much land does a man need?). A criticism by a acquaintance (have I spelt that right?) - that I don't have any friends at all. I see my work colleagues having get-togethers often, and I am the only person not invited. On the net, I check my orkut a/c and find all "friends" visit the site more often... meet more often, chat more often (on the net, oddly)...
Well. I thought for some time and could think of no response. Who is there to help you in your time of need? - he prodded on. How many people can you think of who would leave everything and coming rushing to you when you need help? - he added.
I could think of none.
Yet...
who all do I know at all? would I really need somebody to rush to me to help? would i rush to help somebody (conversely) ?
Well...
I thought of how many people have I spoken to in the last one month? Apart from the people I meet routinely for work?
Let me list that.
1. My childhood (when I was around 8 years old) friend Raju. I met him in Panaji, and he again invited me to his place... and i promised him i would visit him (and forgot about it, one day later).
2. My friend from Ponda who studied with me in Std. 8.
3. My brother's engineering class mate. I meet him often and apart from the occassional tea in a chai shop, we don't socialise much.
4. My friend Ganpat from Ribandar. I knew him probably when I was about 12 years old; I met him for the first time after that, and we exchanged notes - he was working in a factory and lost his job when they "down-sized", and is now managing doing odd jobs. He has a daughter about 10 years old.
5. I spoke to my batch mate of 1988 from Andamans, and when he came over to Coimbatore, went to meet him and spent two days with him. We did nothing but talk talk and talk right through the night. He told stories about tsunami and i had nothing more interesting to tell him, so i just listened.
6. I spoke to another batch mate in Arunachal, and another one in Manipur, and two from Assam. I got each of their cell numbers from the last person i spoke to.
7. I sent sms to a friend who stopped speaking to me four years ago, (because of a self-confessed mis understanding) and my joy knew no bounds when i received a reply from him.
8. And i got an sms from a mother who felt sad for having left her baby for a couple of days and went on a work trip.
9. spoke to a friend in morocco, who writes to me regularly.

No. I don't have any friends at all.
No friends at all.
Only people... child hood friends that i still know and talk with, college batch mates still in touch with each other, acquaintances who occassionally phone me, and acquaintances whom i phone to.
People whom i really don't know whether i should count on to rush to me when i need help...

Comments

  1. walk don't run1:10 AM

    Pausing a while in this supposedly busy life, I have pondered over this question ever so often. Who are my friends? Those who inform me only five months into their pregnancy, about their big day? Those who only find time to write a word or two once in a month, after they've moved out of town? (I too am guilty of this bit) Or those who I cannot relate with when I see them sway, from wanting to be bosses favourite to pretending to be your best friend.
    Unfortunately my friend (no pun intended), when we grow up, we lose friends. they are only people we know, people we want to use for our entertainment, people we want to see on sundays. All we have, is us.

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