F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

*Though this post is not a work of fiction, but it surely cannot be related to any individual.

It often happens that we meet some people in our life that leave a trace, which imprints an unforgettable impression on our mind. The only thing we could do is to cherish it. How difficult it becomes sometimes just ‘to keep in touch’. Facebook & other social media do help, but I think, somehow they are a part of the reason for people to drift apart.

I moved to Pune 5 years ago from Nagpur, and I really used to miss my pals there. Whenever I used to go back to home, we’d had a great time together chatting, night-outs, long rides and what not.16 hours out of the 24, I’d be with friends. The distances were so short inspite of some 800 kilometres in between. We used to call each other regularly, share our tragedies and all was going great.

But last year, we all finished our engineering, and most of my friends shifted to Pune for Job/further studies. Suddenly things changed. And the change was drastic. I won’t say it wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t see any of them. For a few days we used to meet every day, next month, it became a weekly meet. Later, it came down to once in a month. 20-30km seemed too long to travel as compared to the 800km earlier. Some got girlfriends, who were not comfortable with all new faces around. Some preferred going for a movie rather than a night-out. Some preferred a booze party instead of a long drive. Things got so much entangled that unknowingly, we started avoiding each other. Once upon a time, a reason like new video game cassette was sufficient for all of us to get together, but now even a funeral isn’t.

Thanks to Facebook, it connects us well, allows us to know what we all are doing, where we have been. It’s easy to share pictures, even tag friends, especially in the ‘Top Friends List’(we are often tagged on top) We also spam each other frequently, and sometimes ‘Poke’ each other without any reason. We don’t miss each other as we are always in touch via Facebook. So we don’t feel the need to meet each, neither we have time for it. Once in while, we do call each other. But unfortunately, many times the range is poor, battery is low, or the mobile is left alone on silent. We often change our numbers and it’s sad, but the message with new number is never delivered.

Whatever it is, we still try our best to meet over a coffee, or a weekend trek or a short road trip. Never the less, things are discussed on Facebook itself. It is going great!!!

P.S. : Nobody realized that a bunch of guys who were ‘chaddi buddies’ once are nothing more than ‘Facebook Friends’ now.