Friendly Religion!

Yesterday I was sitting in a ‘happinessless’ mood. But I wasn’t sad. May be I missed somebody. That won’t make you sad coz it’s a different feeling. Then came a call from a friend of mine who lives in a different place (abt 1000 km away). We know each other since 24 years and I became a lil happy that he called me up. It was very odd time and hence I thought something might be wrong. But he said he is in a train and it’s yet to move and thought he just call me. Thanks you pal.

Day before yesterday, another friend called me up from one icy and frosty place (he is a soldier) to update me on certain things. We are friends since 32 years.

So it was a mixture of things - whether getting updated or losing the updates and getting missed, but it had something in common – friends

What is special about today? I did not see anything particularly special. Many cells in my body might have died and new one might have born. I became one more day older and I am one more day closer to death.

But today I once again thought about friends.

How long a friendship lasts?

One of my friends, who also is a blogger, observes that friends move together and then part. And she says the maturity is not getting panic when our friend(s) moves away from us. She even compares friendship with plants – it can die…..period of intimacy, withdrawal, distance… she gives many such nice observations.

Why am I telling this? I saw a friendship happening and dying on the same day. The ‘friendship’ lasted only a few minutes, may be….. I don’t know the exact reason why it died but religion can be one of the reasons.

May be for some people even religion matters in a friendship. Most of my friends are followers of this person’s religion. This was the first experience of this kind. I believe friendship is beyond religion. Religion is something personal. And believing that God is partial to a particular religious sect is absolute nonsense.

I used to spend the whole day in a church with a Christian friend of mine during Good Friday service. Nothing happened to me or my/his religion. I had food from the church and it did not create any indigestion but it was more enjoyable since I was having it with my friend.

Christmas is on its way and how I wish I could spend that with a (particular) Christian friend of mine, this year.

I was talking about my day…. Yes, by 4 O’clock in the evening, I was expecting my son back from school. He used to come between 3.55 and 4. It became 4.05…4.10….4.15… then I started getting worried. I called up his friend who used to come in the same bus. Nobody picked up the phone. I called another friend of his and her parent said she reached home in time. Then I called up his school. Nobody picked the phone. Then I called my wife and informed about the situation. She tried her level best to contact whoever she knows like the parent of one of his (son’s) friends, the in-charge of the school bus, school…. And she became a lil panic. I could make out the shiver in her voice (she was in a bus on her way home from office)…….. Son reached home one hour late due to some unexpected problems with school bus schedule

In such situations we are prone to think ‘bad’ possibilities. I did not become panic, but I became too silly for a moment and thought of sending one txt to one of my friends and ask to pray (who lives thousands of miles away and believes in a different religion!!)….

My thought might have been silly, but what I believe is there are friends who stand with us when we are in need of them, irrespective of what religion both believes in.