For all my virtual friends

Here is a  special post
for all my
virtual friends.

There have been many
who have told me that
e-friendship or virtual friendship
does not work.....
I disagree.
I believed in you
I believe in doing things
which people say I cannot do.
I am happy to have had fellow believers
in you, my e-friends!

Think you.....
Think me.....
Combine the two,
and lo.....
you get a warm hug,
a special embrace,
a jaadoo ki jhappi
(as MunnaBhai would say)
Happy loving,
my virtual friends,
know that
I love you all,
messages and mails
keep our friendship
alive......
and always will!

More on friends and friendship.......

There's always so much that I have to say on the topic of friendship, it is never enough even when I have already spoken my mind on the same.

I hope my readers do not get bored of my blabber-blabber too.

I have been feeling I need to spend a bit more time on my friendships.

As I make it a point to listen to my intuition, I decided to call a good friend who has been on my mind,

and the first thing he said was that he and his wife had been thinking about me too and were feeling a need to catch up with their friends.

We all had a great laugh at the coincidence, and then we had a lovely chat, catching up on one another's lives.

It was just another reminder to me how valuable my friends are and how important it is to find ways to stay in touch, even when they are far away.

Of course, getting together in person is the best, but isn't always feasible. Nowadays, despite physical distances, there are so many ways to keep in touch that it is actually easy to do so.

In addition to our home phones, we have cell phones to stay in touch from just about anywhere. And there are instant messaging programs that allow us to use the computer to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while. There are even some computer programs that allow us to talk to each other in real time with video!

If one is pressed for time, communicating with one's friends all at once through a social networking site makes it really easy.

Online social networking is a great way to keep up with everyone without having to contact each person separately to find out what they are up to. Many people post pictures, tell stories and relate bits about their family, events, and vacations.

By posting regularly about what we are doing, we can take advantage of this media to let others know what we're up to in our day-to-day life, as well.

And there are always emails or good old-fashioned letters, notes and postcards.

Almost everyone enjoys finding a nice personal note in among the bills and junk mails.

So, I would like to tell all of my friends that, even if you are busy, I encourage you to do whatever you can, suiting your own preferences, to stay in touch with your friends.

I'm sure, by taking advantage of some of the things I just mentioned, you'd be able to enjoy our friendships all the more.

I hope you all will take this opportunity to catch up with someone you haven't heard from in a while.

Why not see who comes to mind?

Best Friend

Who would you call your best friend?
That is a question we often ask ourselves.
And it is a pertinent question.
Recently, most parts of the world celebrated Friendship Day with much fanfare (ranging from exchange of gifts, cards, sweet messages to special celebratory get-together's) and there was no dearth of friends screaming their allegiance, loyalty, trust et cētera.
But do we really value true friendship in these times of confusion and cacophony.
Aren't many of our so called 'deep' bondings actually quite phony?
All of us, at one point or the other, have longed for a best friend, a special someone, irrespective of gender or other broad, or need-based, specifications, with whom we'd share the strongest possible friendship; one who'll go all out to be there for us, in times of crises, big or small; one who will never judge us; one who'll never back-stab or even be critical behind us; one who can be trusted hundred per cent; one who will make us unwind and feel good about ourselves - no matter what.....
ya, it's a tall order.
The cynics will say, 'It's madness!', or at best, 'nothing but a lame romantic notion', or 'a utopian concept that is long past use'!
Maybe they have a point.
But still two friends, of whatever age or sex, can still find so much comfort when they call each other BEST FRIENDS.
I am privileged when a so called e-friend of mine introduced me the other day - when we met for a face to face chat - to a friend of his as "He is Anindo, my best friend!"
It meant a lot to me.
In fact, it meant the world.
As I had been on that day harbouring grudge against a particular back-stabber, and had been thinking that the acceptance of the new word 'unfriending', as opposed to the age old 'befriending' made much sense...... yes, on that very day....... my 'best friend' showed me how a small introduction - comprising just three words - can be so fulfilling.
I am keeping my fingers crossed. May I be able to be worth the tag. May we both live up to it.

Friendship redefined?

Dostana is the new film from producer Karan Johar's.... and it puts friendship in a whole new bracket - something of a first for mainstream Indian cinema. Dostana literally means friendship, and the film celebrates friendship, period. But.... yes, there is a big 'but' that separates it from the yarns on celluloid that we are so used to, and even indifferent to. This time, the story takes a whole new dimension as the two leading lads pose as gay lovers, to be able to share a swanky apartment in Miami. Hey, the film's basic premise suggests that director Tarun Mansukhani does not intend to break new grounds as there isn't a serious take on homosexuality. On the contrary, it's a madcap comedy perpetuating the silly same-sex stereotypes that has been the staple fare in Hollywood B-grade ventures for a really long time. The promos of Dostana did prepare one for a no-brainer laughathon, however, on seeing the movie today at a packed house morning screening, I have had to do a rethink. I must say that the zany romantic comedy does dare to push the envelope in its own way. It brings homosexuality out of the closet, gives it respect and dignity and doesn't treat gays as 'abnormal'. Well, maybe not in gigantic scoops and servings, but in a small-dollops kind of way.

Love triangle in Hindi movies often centre around two guys falling in love with the same girl, or two girls choosing to love the same guy. But Dostana is a first! It's the first Hindi film that, at the core, is a rectangle (three men loving the same woman), but two of them pretending to be a couple. The so-called shock-value associated with the screenplay is diffused thanks to a stellar cast that seems to understand the director's brief perfectly.
Besides John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan who are the talking point, as the mock-gay couple, Priyanka Chopra looks stunning (she has never looked better) and delivers a first-rate performance. Bobby Deol lends apt support as her boss, who is later besotted with her. On the whole, Dostana with its new-age friendship funds is a winner all the way, helping one chillax in these depressing times.

FRIENDSHIP

When I used to watch television's favorite sitcom, Friends, I couldn't help wishing that I too had such great friends. Beneath all the madcap humour is an underlying message about friendship. Now that I have such real good friends, so what if they are just e-friends, I consider myself lucky. I would like to tell all the users of social networking sites, or other online chat-rooms: If you are friendless, maybe you have not tried hard enough. The cyberspace is such a great leveller, a real cool platform to share our thoughts with friends from all over the world!

May there always be work for your hands to do, may your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine on your windowpane, may a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you, may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you. [- An Irish saying]


Here is a selection of choicest Friendship Quotes:

Jacques Delille

"Chance makes our parents, but choice makes our friends."

Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

"It is wise to apply the oil of refined politeness to the mechanism of friendship."

William James

"We want all our friends to tell us our bad qualities; it is only the particular ass that does so whom we can't tolerate."

George Ade

"A friend who is near and dear may in time become as useless as a relative."

Francis Bacon

"There is as much difference between the counsel that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is between the counsel of a friend and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a man's self."

Honore de Balzac

"Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other."

Richard Barnfield

"He that is thy friend indeed,He will help thee in thy need:If thou sorrow, he will weep;If you wake, he cannot sleep;Thus of every grief in heartHe with thee doth bear a part."

Joan Crawford

"If you have an ounce of common sense and one good friend you don't need an analyst."

Norman Douglas

"To find a friend one must close one eye -- to keep him, two."