FRiENDSHIP! Is Real?

Welcome to the world of friendship!

Ops... digital friendship. 

Today, on friendship day... I'm missing going for shopping a day prior to friendship day to get "friendship bands" under different tags in school, "just friends, good friends, and the most important one Best Friend. I miss counting on bands after collecting it all day long and cherishing them for the next week at-least. 

Then, I joined college and friendship day wasn't limited to bands anymore, it turned into an excuse to go out and party. The celebration was bigger than in school as we were also growing with time.  

Now I look around, there are no bands and no outings. I feel like I'm not growing anymore. Or maybe, I'm turning old. 

With years, life happened!

All my lifetime friends (the greatest investments) have moved to different cities and countries. And the only pleasure left is it to share memories with a "HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY" message. Oh, we entered the era of the digital world.

And I'm happy with it. Like we all are.

But I'm not sure how to feel digitally, how to tie bands, how to go on random outings, and how to count on blessings at the end of the day. Message? Calls? Video Call?

Nothing gives me the pleasure of sitting next to my friend and telling the stories of the entire world. Laughing rolling down on the floor has become a dream I lived in my growing year. I'm yet to learn how to feel digitally and unlearn all that I felt in the past. Unlearn gossiping. Unlearn checking on food and guys (of course), Unlearn random storytelling. Unlearn enjoying. Unlearn laughing. And most importantly unlearn "LIVING". 

Surviving in the digital world needs to unlearn living in the real world. 

No doubt, I've always been the luckiest bird when it comes to friendship but I'm never getting enough of it. I guess nobody gets. 

With time, I've learned to be mean. "Mean in the meanest world." I've stopped being friendlier to people who are not friendly to me. I've stopped making efforts to make new friends, and working on relations to make them stay for long as I'm not sure how long will these friendships will go. As theories have changed over the period, so did I. At times, I sit back and think. is friendship real? Am I real? Are my friends real? Is this world real?

I'm so unsure about the real/ unreal in this digital world because I can't feel digital. Back in the days, friends were the ones you played with. I don't play anymore, neither people around me. And gossip became the next symbol of friendship, and then outings and parties. Now, neither of the things are part of my life. But is the friendship still there?

One part of me says, "No". But the other part of me argues on behalf of my friends. On behalf of friends I met in different phases and at different places. Friends who are meant to be together but virtually! 

I'm yet to understand is this a curse or blessings!

I connected with all my dear friends emotionally, mentally, and socially, but never virtually. 

I'm not sure when I'll be seeing them next and how things will be changed between us as we all are growing differently. But some part of me is still happily hoping to see them again, to connect even better, and love more. 

In the virtual world, I'm choosing to wait. Wait for all my dear ones to pop up into my life again, checking on things we did with/without each other, and collecting the pieces of life. 

Yes, friendship is real, exactly the way it was before. I seek my friends, streets, gossips, and all other ordinary things we did in the extraordinary fancy world. I hope time to take me back to the days where texts, calls were never enough. A world where I did feel the presence of somebody sitting next to me, and sharing real and unreal stories. The world where promises were meant to be kept for life long. The world of friends where there was no place for WhatsApp status and Instagram stories. 

I believe in the virtual world, no friendship will come to an end but no "friendship flags" will be forever. Time will change, so the priorities and life would happen somewhere in between. 

With a Happy/Sad note - Happy Friendship Day!