Friends, Internet and The Cell Phone

Few days back I was suddenly faced with this question – Would you be ready to give the worst possible news to your best friend when you know it will break him down completely? Yes, you know he’ll survive. He’ll hate you for a few days but then life will go on. But still that doesn’t make it right. Does it? I have done things like this quite a few times and have survived. I don’t know whether I am right or wrong though. And then yesterday while talking to another friend; I was faced with the question of choice in Friendship. Guess, at times we all need to figure out our own answers.

Yesterday for example, I needed some answers and I had to go back and search them in people who had known me for a long time and though all them agreed unanimously on what I should be doing, my heart tells me to act differently. Choices; they make us what we are.

Anyway, certain things are really irritating me these days. First is the case of the poor girl from Noida. Even in death she has no peace. India TV and Aaj Tak and the rest of the TV channels will just NOT let her die in peace. And what else, her friend has been questioned by police because she had called him late into the night quite a few times. Now I don’t know about them but anyone who’s working know that the only time you get these days are after you are back in your room, have thrown down your laptop and then called a friend in another city. We live in an age where every one of us has been thrown at different corners of the world and a late night call is sometimes the only way to connect with a past we miss so much. I guess some of the journalists or even the police at times have no idea about the importance of 4:00 am friends in one’s life. In fact, my issue is not so much with the police. Just like I analyze every aspect of a Brand’s equity, they are supposed to take note of every aspect of a crime. But it’s the journalism of thrills that irritates me.

This was the sample conversation I had with two of my closest friends from school, one over chat and the other over phone, both at odd times in the last few days.
So in one of them we spoke about the theory of comparative relativity (to our known sample set) in defining the perfect woman. Remember this was the friend I went to my first ‘without parents’ movie with. This is also the friend with whose mom my mom is kind of a best friend as they both used to wait for us after school. His mom believes me more than him at times and the feeling is reciprocated towards him by my mom. So with him I can be sure I can chat anytime I like even after a hiatus of years.

In the other chat conversation with another friend, we were discussing about his impending doom and his untimely and underage (according to me) marriage and we were discussing my supposed list of crushes in high school chemistry tuitions. Ah those were the days when if someone asked for your notes, it became news at school the next day. Were we innocent or complete duds? I don’t know, maybe both. But poor guy, while ‘the chivalrous us’ were going to make photocopies of the notes for the girl in question he was the one who fell in a mud poodle and has ever since claimed it was my fault.

That’s another story. But the point here is different. The point is we live in different time zones. And the only time we can chat is when one of us is up late. So if the journalists got to know of this they’d say, “Ahhh… see he chats till late in the night.” Oh!!! For heaven’s sake give me a break or give me enough money to make international calls and then reach late for office.

As it is so very tough to find friends these days; you never know who has someone from past acquaintances ready to fly down and make mincemeat out of you. This is where I think journalists get it right. They have clearly understood that in the morning when I am travelling to work I’d rather read about spicy details about affairs and “passion crimes” rather than know about people fighting for a social cause. Hrrrrmph. (Imagine non cigarette or bidi fumes out of my nostrils and ears)

Finally, through another piece of information stares at me from Mumbai Mirror. This is an amazing newspaper. I think when people draws up rules for the next bestseller, ‘The Guide to being a Mumbaikar’, they should make reading Mumbai Mirror a mandatory requirement if you have the habit of reading Angrezi newspaper. So Mumbai Mirror tells me, if I don’t like you and say I can’t marry you, and if you then go and jump into the sea because The Bandra Worli Sea Link is killing the view of Worli Sea Face, I might be picked up and put in custody. Forget the logic that you jumped because of the Bandra Worli sea face issue, everyone completely uninvolved will claim that I am the root cause.

So even though the senior Ambani might claim the first right of refusal, you my dear don’t stand a chance when you are refusing someone’s marriage proposal.

(Inspired by a string of articles when ‘friends’ get into trouble for knowing a certain someone and the set of my ‘anytime can call’ friends. And of course, I am sure the judiciary will again prove to be the custodian of justice in each of the news articles referred to here. I believe in my country's law)