Friends

A couple of days ago, during a dinner with two friends, the topic of relationship and friends cropped up. What followed was an engaging exchange of viewpoints. An observation was then made about me not having a 'best friend', or even 'best friends'. The term 'best friend' here supposes a friend who shares in almost every aspect of my life, the ups and the downs. After some deliberations, i have to agree that it was an astute observation, one which had been scrutinised by me before. 2 qns was posed: "Don't you need a best friend? Or you can survive alone?" The ans is "YES and NO". I think i have certain friends who have shared certain phases of my life. At those points of my life, i would certainly consider them best of friends, someone whom i can share my thoughts and emotions with. However, it would be wrong to say that once i moved on to different phases of my life, these best-of-friends fades in importance or significance. I would think of it as saving our close friendship till another period of time, where Fate decrees that we resume that kind of close-ness and correspondence. Whatever it is, there are some people i call Friends, people who have seen the worst of me, who have shared laughter & disappointments and grown up together over the years, and who have accepted me for who i am. For that, i am truly grateful and fortunate.
"Do i need a best friend?"
This is a tough question. The fact is, i tend to keep things to myself. This immediately creates a barrier or distance between people who are close to me. "You allow people to come close to you, but not close enough." This comment carries some insight. Perhaps i'm the sort who refuses to allow myself to be in a situation where i might be vulnerable. 'Vulnerable to what?' you might ask. I don't really know myself. Maybe it's Pride. Maybe it's Fear. Maybe it's my character. Maybe i'm afraid that i would be hurt. Maybe i'm juz being over-protective.
Maybe-s.
If you ask me to choose between a close friend of 10 years and a girl who i like at a certain point of time, there would be no doubts about my choice. For all of you cynics and skeptics who think i would choose the girl, think again. Attraction is transient and ephemeral. Unless that attraction changes into love, the bonds of friendship is still much too strong and much too cherished to be broken.