My concepts about friends and friendship are a little different. To me, friend is a very broad term. Anyone can be my friend. If I have met you a couple of times and know you beyond basic introduction, I think of you as a friend. You might not be my closest friend, but nevertheless, you are a friend. And then there are categories of friends. Some friends are classmates, some are colleagues, some are study partners, some are hangout partners, and so on. The strength of the friendship bond develops over time, and depends on how much I have in common with my friend. Some friends get real close to me and some I speak with only once in a while. Some friendships don’t last too long. I have moved from places to places all my life, and I leave my friends behind when I move. I don’t know why, but I hardly stay in touch with my old friends. I just make new friends at the new place. And then I move on. Had I stayed in touch with all of my friends, my orkut profile would have had hundreds of contacts (provided all of my friends used orkut). I consider myself as a friendly person. I love to meet new people. I don’t have a strict checklist to qualify someone as friend, unlike some people.
I think orkut is a great tool for remaining in contact with old friends. There is one childhood friend whom I last saw 16 yrs back yet we still communicate over orkut. Althought truth be told I’m not a big fan of calling up old friends every weekend. I prefer chat/orkut over gossiping on the phone.
I can totally relate to this article! Rather than just having or not having friends i prefer classying them into seperate categories, all under the umbrella of friendship.
Good post! and to think… just today i was thinking of posting somethings about being friendly! What a coincidence!
I totally agree with you on Friends. Me somehow of the same mould as you I guess.