We sometimes feel a lot, but putting things on a paper seems to be the most difficult task. Recently some happenings motivated me to put my pen to paper, type in this case.

This article is about friends and acquaintances. I recently had some instances in my life that I learnt, from which I think and I hope that has made me more matured than I was.

It made me realize that friends are not always who talk to you nicely, or who are ready to accompany you for lunch, trips or night outs. There is a deep meaning to the word, which is much above all the relationships, almost close to blood relations.

I grew up with true friends, who would not just be sweet talkers. These types of friends would be my mirror. They would give me wings to fly and be there to save me in case I crash. These were friends who would forget to wish me Happy birthday or never post “I love you friend” with beautiful quotes on Facebook. These would be friends who would tell me when I go wrong, not judge me as right or wrong and respect me unknowingly. So you can well understand- “friendship was like a fairy tale to me”.

Just because I did not know any other type of friendship, I was happy. It was one of the most important feelings to me. Then came the disaster. People say at some point or the other, you come face to face with reality, which tends to make you negative and change you. That is what happened to my fairy tale. I met a “friend” who was not the ‘giving me wings types”, he was the leech types. After being manipulated for 3 years and not realizing that the person sitting right next to me is smiling while stabbing me right in my heart, I learnt a lesson. No relationship is free of negativity and bad spirit and neither is any relationship bad. It totally depends on how blind we are to them. Hence I learnt to stand up, make friends again, but this time, more careful about who I make friends with. It is rightly said. Choose your friends correctly. They are the gift of god, but he also wants you to be prudent in selection. Every small emotion in your heart deserves a filter. Use it! Not everyone is loyal and not everyone is bad. It is not gender specific and it is not specific to situations. We have to realize when we are being manipulated or used and everything can be sorted without getting closed.

–Urmimala Datta