When one grows up to be a young adult, every friendship day, now, is a reminder of the ones celebrated by tying a friendship band to all those we considered our friends. There was clearly no set, rigid definition of friendship, back then, and nor was there any ulterior motive behind forging one. Do you remember how the number of friendship bands one sported on his/her hand became a yardstick to determine the number of friends one had? Or so was believed to be the case. The higher the friendship bands on one's hand, the more popular was the person thought to be with his/her friends.
If friendship day fell on a weekday, then the fad of wearing all your bands to school and flaunting your popularity would become an activity of indulgence, which would end up becoming the talking point of the class. This act, which is now laughed upon when one thinks he/she has outgrown that ''childish'' behaviour, was a real source of joy.
Taking a classroom set-up, I have divided the friends that decided to give you a friendship band into various categories.
Friend A - Best friend; usually your class-sharing buddy since you started schooling.
This friend would always give a special friendship band, which would stand out from the
rest of the friendship bands one is sporting.
Friend B - Bench partner; someone you bonded with for the purpose of taking notes and during
mid-lecture boredom. And it also works to befriend someone whom you could borrow
a pen from or share a lunch-box with when you don't have one.
Friend C - There is always this one friend who is obligated to give you a friendship band because you
share the same friend group. It may be an onerous task to fulfill the formality of making
friends with those you may not otherwise have been friends with had it not been for
your group of friends.
Friend D - There are always a few people who are constantly looking to fit the bill when it
comes to being accepted into a group of friends. This type of a person does not usually
have a lot of friends and is desperate to befriend anyone who is willing to extend the
olive branch to him/her.
Friend E - There are some sweethearts who, irrespective of how close you are to them, out of the
goodness of their hearts and in the true spirit of friendship tie a friendship band to all those
they are on friendly terms with.
The rush of nostalgia, while I think about the good old days, brings me to talk about one of the friendship days I celebrated as a school girl. I remember going to the market a day before friendship day some 9 to 10 years ago. Colourful ribbon reels adorned the front shops, which sold stationery and toys. The market place, during any festival or special occasion, literally makes for a visual treat. I had pestered my mother to take me to a shop to get me some friendship bands. Since it was going to be my last year of schooling, I was very excited about giving a friendship band to all my friends in school. I bought a green ribbon reel and one lace-and-beads friendship band. The one with beads in it was for my closest buddy in school. I nicely divided the ribbon reel into some fifteen, equal-sized friendship bands. Since friendship day, that year, fell on a weekday, my excitement levels went through the roof. ''I'm so glad I'm getting to celebrate my last school friendship day with all my friends in school, itself,'' I thought to myself. Next day, upon reaching school, the first thing I did was take out all my friendship bands and move around the class tying them to all the people they were meant for. Soon, everyone who had carried friendship bands to school started tying them to all their friends. My wrist was glistening with all the bright colours there could possibly be. I realized that the friend for whom I was carrying the special friendship band having silver bead embellishments hadn't come to school. As sorry as I felt for her absence on this special day, I decided I would carry her friendship band to school the next day. Unfortunately, my friend was not able to come to school for the next few days and our study leave for the board exams was immediately scheduled to begin once she was supposed to resume coming to school. This only meant that I would not have an opportunity to meet her for the next few weeks. I remember calling up my friend to tell her how much I missed her in school, and how I couldn't felt sorry for not being able to celebrate the friendship day with her. Later, we mutually agreed to keep the friendship band we had bought for each other with ourselves, thinking that we had received it as the most special friendship day present during our last year of being in school from a special friend.
It has been almost a decade since that day, and both of us, to this day, have that friendship band with ourselves. We often laugh over the hysteria and our crazy antics from school days, but we never forget to remind each other of our bond, which has been made all the more special because of that one friendship band we treasure as one of our most valued possessions. Meanwhile, the friendship day that went by was nothing more than a reminder of how I could either choose to be friend zoned on Facebook by guys sending messages like ''Heya, you look so smart. Wanna be frienz?'' or remain zoned out. What do you think I should do?
If friendship day fell on a weekday, then the fad of wearing all your bands to school and flaunting your popularity would become an activity of indulgence, which would end up becoming the talking point of the class. This act, which is now laughed upon when one thinks he/she has outgrown that ''childish'' behaviour, was a real source of joy.
Taking a classroom set-up, I have divided the friends that decided to give you a friendship band into various categories.
Friend A - Best friend; usually your class-sharing buddy since you started schooling.
This friend would always give a special friendship band, which would stand out from the
rest of the friendship bands one is sporting.
Friend B - Bench partner; someone you bonded with for the purpose of taking notes and during
mid-lecture boredom. And it also works to befriend someone whom you could borrow
a pen from or share a lunch-box with when you don't have one.
Friend C - There is always this one friend who is obligated to give you a friendship band because you
share the same friend group. It may be an onerous task to fulfill the formality of making
friends with those you may not otherwise have been friends with had it not been for
your group of friends.
Friend D - There are always a few people who are constantly looking to fit the bill when it
comes to being accepted into a group of friends. This type of a person does not usually
have a lot of friends and is desperate to befriend anyone who is willing to extend the
olive branch to him/her.
Friend E - There are some sweethearts who, irrespective of how close you are to them, out of the
goodness of their hearts and in the true spirit of friendship tie a friendship band to all those
they are on friendly terms with.
The rush of nostalgia, while I think about the good old days, brings me to talk about one of the friendship days I celebrated as a school girl. I remember going to the market a day before friendship day some 9 to 10 years ago. Colourful ribbon reels adorned the front shops, which sold stationery and toys. The market place, during any festival or special occasion, literally makes for a visual treat. I had pestered my mother to take me to a shop to get me some friendship bands. Since it was going to be my last year of schooling, I was very excited about giving a friendship band to all my friends in school. I bought a green ribbon reel and one lace-and-beads friendship band. The one with beads in it was for my closest buddy in school. I nicely divided the ribbon reel into some fifteen, equal-sized friendship bands. Since friendship day, that year, fell on a weekday, my excitement levels went through the roof. ''I'm so glad I'm getting to celebrate my last school friendship day with all my friends in school, itself,'' I thought to myself. Next day, upon reaching school, the first thing I did was take out all my friendship bands and move around the class tying them to all the people they were meant for. Soon, everyone who had carried friendship bands to school started tying them to all their friends. My wrist was glistening with all the bright colours there could possibly be. I realized that the friend for whom I was carrying the special friendship band having silver bead embellishments hadn't come to school. As sorry as I felt for her absence on this special day, I decided I would carry her friendship band to school the next day. Unfortunately, my friend was not able to come to school for the next few days and our study leave for the board exams was immediately scheduled to begin once she was supposed to resume coming to school. This only meant that I would not have an opportunity to meet her for the next few weeks. I remember calling up my friend to tell her how much I missed her in school, and how I couldn't felt sorry for not being able to celebrate the friendship day with her. Later, we mutually agreed to keep the friendship band we had bought for each other with ourselves, thinking that we had received it as the most special friendship day present during our last year of being in school from a special friend.
It has been almost a decade since that day, and both of us, to this day, have that friendship band with ourselves. We often laugh over the hysteria and our crazy antics from school days, but we never forget to remind each other of our bond, which has been made all the more special because of that one friendship band we treasure as one of our most valued possessions. Meanwhile, the friendship day that went by was nothing more than a reminder of how I could either choose to be friend zoned on Facebook by guys sending messages like ''Heya, you look so smart. Wanna be frienz?'' or remain zoned out. What do you think I should do?
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