Who is Your True Friend?

A few days back, I was just having a casual discussion with one of my friends and the topic of friendship came about. The question in the minds of both of us was “How many true friends do we have”. We were of the opinion that in today’s world you rarely find friends. I have experienced this enough in my life to know that most of the relationships are strictly professional. And in some cases its pure business. Its like, I have to get some work done from this guy, so let’s be friendly with him. I hate to say this but it is the truth in many cases. If you consider the work culture today, you don’t have much time for socializing other than in office. So most of the people you hang out with will be from your office. But come to think of it, how many of them are your true friends, and how many of those are just colleagues whom you would no longer be in touch with after you have left your current job.

Amidst all these thoughts going through my mind, this past weekend, after a long time, I met my best friend. We have been friends since our junior college days. We had joined the same coaching classes for our 12^th board exams. Since then, we have been the best of friends. I have always wondered what the definition of a “best friend” is. I believe that a person, whom you can trust the most, above anybody else in this world, is your best friend. Some people might argue that it is someone you like to be with, or someone whom you mostly hang out with. I wouldn’t agree on this point. My best friend lives in Thane, the same place as I do. His house is about 1.5 kms away from mine. Even so we do not meet for days or months. We don’t even speak on phone for weeks. But, whenever there is something I need to get out of my heart, I can only think of one person. My life is an open book for him and vice versa. The level of understanding I share with him is unmatched.. I still do not know whether he considers me to be his best friend, but it doesn’t matter. I consider myself lucky to have a friend like him.