Quotes and Anecdotes - 2

Hello readers,

Be ready to have a look at a very cliche bond of friendship, but well obviously, with a twist. There are unending stories of how friendship is tested when we are in bad times but it is also the other way around. Didn't get it?

So, here is the second flower in our #quote_anecdote garland

Being born and brought up in a closely bonded family setup, I have seen way too many friendships in here. Some selfish, some selfless, some motivating, some way too distracting and some too precious to ever let go. 

After watching few evolving and few stagnant ones, I made it a point to have a lot of friends but also, have some precious and ever lasting ones. While I focused on staying in touch with everyone, I went an extra mile for some (though sometimes terribly failed to be there for some of them.) 

One of  the many advises I always heard was - it is during the hardships that you get to know your real friends - but I don't totally buy this advice.

Why? Because as this notion stuck with me, so did it with all other people in my generation so now it is very straight situation for us to choose our bonds wisely. 

But when we see, we are also a generation which is fed to have great lavish dreams for success and admit it or not but not all people, get to reach those heights.

The real test of friendship for me is the way, Oscar Wilde puts it - 

Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.

This stands so true because over time, we all get busy to carve our own footprints on the way to success. This quote somewhat directs us to the very funny dialogue from 3 Idiots 

"Dost fail ho jaye toh dukh hota hai.. lekin dost first aa jaye to zyada dukh hota hai"

(It feels sad when you friend fails, but it hurts even more when your friend comes first)

It makes us laugh but it has such a stark picture of reality. It cannot be denied that it is possible to grieve with a friend in his/her sadness but it gets really hard to see a friend achieving success as no matter what things do change. 

When friend becomes successful, no doubt we get happy, but there are very high chances of having some personal ego clashes,  unfulfilled expectations and some layers of self doubt also coming to surface. 

It was and still a bitter pill for me to swallow. Not to sound like a jealous person but if you have gone through this, you will very well understand how one is faced with an awful dilemma.

There is a big part of your heart which is so delighted and proud of your friend's success but much larger part of your heart knows, things will change and your buddy's success should not make you uncomfortable. 

We beat ourselves for having this unsettling feeling and turmoil of emotions acting out within us. We know that if we address it, we would be termed as 'envious' and if we don't let it out, it can put strain on our bond. It is crucial to find way to tackle such situations in a mature way.

 

Well, on a brighter side to this, I have seen more friendships in front of my eyes that made through these crossroads of choices, I am sure that you are also the one who made it through.

Have the kind of friendship that is strong enough to sail through it all only to look back at it and laugh together.

 Friendships for life are not just about sharing comfortable silences but also about having uncomfortable conversations. 

 

P.S.- This series actually brings me out candidly to all you readers. I don't know if you would take this one in good stride or not but no person is black or white, there is always a shade of grey in all of us.

Do let me know if you agree or disagree with my personal views above.

See you on the next post, till then

Happy reading!

 

Image credits: indiatimes.com