What are friends for?

        If an eccentric were to explain the world, he would say its like one solution where there are particles attracted to and repelled from each other. Effective charge, valency, what have you. I, think that is indeed the best way to describe it. Circumstances define us, choices make us, experiences build us, and friends help us. 

          Today's world has turned almost everyone into a philosopher. People always have something to say. And an extension of this would be the attitude some people have towards others, be it warm and welcoming or cold and distancing. It is a given that today's world moves forward through networking. Get friends at the right places and push yourself forward through them. This, in my opinion, is both correct and wrong, as circumstances would have it. But, one has to wonder from time to time; "What if I didn't have these many friends? What if I was one of those 'I can't talk to him, he's a stranger' person?" To all those people, I will say this; your friends will find you always, even if you don't know where to look for them.

           Ever since I was a kid, I've never been able to make friends by myself. I always had something to say about the people around me, to keep myself distanced from them. If I were asked to recall the first time I went up and talked to someone all by myself, I wouldn't be able to remember such an instance. I really wouldn't. I've just made friends through the circumstances and through my friends' welcoming personalities but not through my personal efforts.

          On the very first day of my undergrad, I saw someone sitting over my desk. I instantly got ticked off and stormed up to him to give what for. Ironically, this encounter was something I would later recall as me making friends with someone. A Mr. Sebastian, who was my good classmate during 4 years of undergraduate study and a truly thick friend through the years. If I had just ignored him instead of going up to him and telling him off, I never would have gotten such a wonderful friend. 

           And thanks to him, I met a whole other bunch of people who's names if included here will turn into a long list. These guys taught me what it actually means to be the part of something. Amongst this bunch of merry maniacs, there's every kind of awesome person you'd expect to meet. I, for one, didn't think they would keep in touch after our undergrad, but truth be told, I got to know them even better after we all left college. I regret not being a better friend during our college years. Only when I was leaving college did I realize how much I would miss them all. And it was this feeling that made me realize that I finally had true friends. 

          Friends are the family you choose, as a friend told me. I for one, never gave importance to any of my friends till I reached my undergrad because I believed I could live all by myself. I thought you need reasons to be around people. I thought you had to explain to yourself why you were spending time with someone. But my friends made me realize something important. Being self sufficient is a respectable notion indeed, but there is nothing as fun as sharing your time with good people. To all the introverts and egoists like me out there who think they don't need anyone, you're wrong. You don't have friends because you need them. You have friends because they're people who can appreciate you. 

         Sebastian, Raghavendra, Rupesh, Rushika, Shravan, Siddharth, Shruti and Shruti, Shreya, Supro and Doha, I cannot express how much you guys mean to me. I wish you guys nothing but the best. I'm grateful for how you guys were so welcoming towards this kid and have been such a treasure to me.