Old Friends are like a good book and a glass of wine.

Comforting and giving you a high.

Replace wine with hot chocolate if you don’t drink :)

Even though the phrase — “there are certain people with whom even if you don’t talk for ages, you can pick up the conversation from where you left off” is such a cliche, there is a hundred percent truth to it.

You get off the phone with a smiling face and so much love, no matter the kind of days you are having. They are friends, just like family or comfort food. Warm, comforting, healthy and yum. Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket captain, said it quite nicely, even though you are ok eating a whole lot of outside food, there are days preferably once a week when you just want to eat home-cooked comforting food. Because that’s the food you have grown up eating, on good and bad days, constantly.

Being an only child, I have always grown up having a lot of friends around me. I longed for the company of a sibling, sometimes still do. But there have been friends to always fill that void. For that, I am grateful. They have been with me through my good and bad days, guided me, scolded me, hugged me, taught me so much about life and love.

Some people in life you can in autopilot mode talk to without having any filters on, and even better, they will talk to you with no filters on. Those kinds of conversations give one so much freedom to express themselves, just be.

Like recently, I remember one of my old friends reached out to me suddenly out of the blue, I remember smiling at her message so much, that my husband who was around caught on to my happiness which was so infectious (read the sentence again, my happiness was infectious, nothing else. Always a good idea to clarify in times like these.)

A quote that I liked (it says by Shakespeare on some sites, doesn’t sound like him though, wasn’t able to verify its origin):-

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.”

So many people come into our lives, we have a perception of each one of them, and they have a perception of us. Some of these perceptions can be misconstrued depending on the context, situation and each individual’s understanding of the situation. That is not in our control, however, very few people show us who we are when we cannot see ourselves clearly. And those people are like a gentle breeze on a scorching summer day.

Friendships take quite a bit of effort to nurture, culture and grow. It takes honesty and openness to make a relationship meaningful. Like any other relationship, the friendship requires us to make a commitment and invest time in it for it to evolve. But once past the initial culturing, it is there to stay with us forever. I for a fact know that even if I haven’t spoken to my friends for a while, they will be there for me when I need them, and vice versa. This kind of confidence and trust comes with time.

Like Cole Porter says -

“That’s friendship, friendship Just a perfect blendship When other friendships go up in smoke Ours will still be oak”

The bond that is formed over the years is strengthened by the old stories, jokes, and silly banter. Some friends have traveled that distance with you, no matter where you are in life now. The same jokes that made you laugh in the olden days make you laugh even now. Be it the low marks you got in your exam, or the secret crush you had on somebody, the worst punishment you got in school, or a cringe-worthy dress you wore to a party or the exam you worked hard to crack. They know all the details, as well as you, know it, if not better.

Looking back, we get to laugh at our younger, more naive selves. Revisiting the olden golden days is like reading a book again and again, and learning something new from it each time. Even though we revisit the olden days playfully, there is something that comes out it, which makes you understand certain things about yourself better. It is a very subtle happening, and only when you put your attention to it, do you realize it even happened. It may be anything, a like or dislike about a movie, person, thing or food.

It is heartening to see when my parents meet their childhood friends. They pull each other’s legs and make playful jokes and comments, remind each other of the hard work they did in the younger days. It brings a different side to their personality which I cherish and always learn something from. I hope to have such friends to grow old with, lean on and simply to be with.

Not all friendships, however, stand the test of time, there are a few that fizzle down. It is simple like Robert Frost says, the roads diverged, and people went in different directions. Though the friendship itself ceases to exist, the fondness and care that the friendship had nurtured will remain forever.

In this day and age of social media, where real conversations have become a sort of thing of the past, it has become even more important to anchor ourselves in something steady, that has stood the test of time, like family and friends like family.

Human beings are social beings. We love being with people, so we are bound to make new friends as we go about on this journey called life. And I know that the new bonds we develop are special and something that we cherish, and look forward to nurturing and culturing. It is similar to how we enjoy a lot of different cuisines. And we develop a taste or a liking to different ones. But the best part is new friends also become old friends, and like Stephen Sondheim says —

“Here’s to us Who’s like us? Damn few”

Dedicated to all my friends. I love you ❤