Is Friendship the Epitome of all pure relationships?

This post is written as the sixth in the series of A-to-Z challenge and a part of #1000speak. 

My series theme is "Compassion" and today's thought is based on "Friendship"

Today, I woke up to a wonderful surprise. The first scroll at Facebook, and a ping from Gauri Kekre (the Mumbai based super talented baker and blogger at Li'l White Oven and  Mind Brew).  I was a bit surprised.

The message read a bit like - 

“I became friends with you exactly a year ago. And am glad we did!!”

with extra add-ons here and there. You know what I mean.

You may not believe me if I say that we have never met. Yes, you heard it right. Never! This does surprise me as well. Thanks Gauri, for always being there. The past year was tough, and I sailed across. 

A simple post on friendship is injustice to this beautiful relationship, encompassing mutual respect, love and selfless devotion towards each other.  To go above and beyond, to bring a smile on your friend's face - Priceless!! 

Whom do you call a friend?

A friend is one with whom you share a strong emotional connect and a selfless bond. Friendships can be formed within family relationships or outside blood relationships. The child begins to feel this emotion while in her mother's womb. As the child grows, he finds a strong bond with her siblings, neighbors, classmates, college mates, many a times in colleagues, within the extended family, and so on. We stand bare within friendships. there are no inhibitions, no fear of judgements on the basis of caste, color, gender, creed, and innumerable other bias. 

Is friendship the epitome of pure relationships? 

As a mom, I want to be my son's best friend. As a wife, I want to be my husband's best friend. As a sister, I want to be her best friend. As a daughter, I want to be my dad's best friend. Why is being a friend above all relationships? It is because of the selfless devotion and mutual trust shared within the relationship. We crave for these pure emotions within all our relationships. Friendships are devoid of materialistic gains.  It overcomes all mind barriers, therefore making the emotion pure and everlasting. 

I would play opportune here, and thank my friends, for being there in my thick and thin, in my joy and sorrows. An ode to all of you. You are a part of me. 

Thank you mum and masi - for being with me always. Always! 

Thank you Chitu and Kunchu - my confidants, my best critics. 

My St Thomas' teachers - Mrs Rowen Gideon, Mrs Simmi Bhatia, Mrs Seema Narayan - pillars of strength

My school friends - Bharti Agarwal, Vandana Bhatia, Isha Kalgaonkar - selfless, non-judgemental love. 

My graduation friends - Remya Nair, Pallavi Mahajan, Suhasini Karkun, Monika Dhingra, Ruchita Nigam, Smita Agarwal - what would I do without you, back then, now, today and everyday! 

My post grad friends - Indrani Mukherjee, Gaurav Jain, Vivek Viv, Laxmi Pandey, Anubha Kartik, K V Kartik, Yogesh Bhardwaj

Friends at work - Himanshu Pandey, Sumit Bhardwaj, Chandramouli Guin, Saikat Mookherjee, Sankalp Shrei, Sushmita Sarkar (blogs at My Unfinished Life),  Shabda Satsangi, my beloved friend - Late Sampath Atmakury, Yatin Bhingarde, Salina Fall, Judith Schon, Caroline Uddstrom

Inspirations and epitome of benevolence - Sapna Gehi Gupta, Sfurti Sinha, Jaibala Rao, Poornima Kulkarni, Ruchira Shukla, Akanksha Dureja

I am grateful to all of you for being a part of my life. At some point of time, you were there with me, to share my joy and sorrow, to catch me when I fell. I can never repay for your kind deeds.  

I am sure I have missed mentioning many amigos. Apologies. 

Head to my fellow A-to-Zder, Aparna Nayak's post for the day. She pens her thoughts at Life of a woman.... This year, her theme is “Kids – God’s Special Gifts”