FOUR DEGREES OF FRIENDSHIP
Yesterday i was out with a friend in a mall just loitering around when we saw a guy we "just knew" from college. What should you do when you bump into someone you "just know", as in not too well to go and hug but you also cant ignore him completely.
The chain of events starts with the meeting of eyes. Now this where you get caught in the trap, once the eyes are locked then a slight smile curves up on your lips and you both walk up to each other, each waiting for other to ask some ice breaking question first. The usual one is "How are you?", but nowdays its been replaced by a single word "Wassup??". Then few obvious question like "What r u doing?" or "Where are you nowdays?". The toughest part starts when these questions have been answered. An awkward silence follows where each one brainstorms to think of the next question. But unable to think of anything you hope that your "aquaintance " is in a hurry and will spare you the guilt of saying "gotta go buddy!". Or you desperately pray to God to make your phone ring and let you escape. But God is a very funny man, so your phone doesn't ring and you only have to plan your escape from that place.
The key to avoid the whole torture is to stop the eyes from meeting. If you can avoid the eyes then you are safe and sound and no one can ever trap you into talking more than you want to. And as you might've guessed by now thats what my friend and i did to get away from our "aquaintance".
Now this small incidence got me thinking, what kind of feelings can a person generate in us. And after contemplating for a long time i could safely divide these feelings into four degrees which i call "THE FOUR DEGREES OF FRIENDSHIP". These four degrees are:-
1.)The fourth degree -The "Where is exit door?" degree
If you know people who make you turn back and run as fast as possible then you will know the meaning of this genre. And if you dont know such people then ...you are lying:-).
Whenever i ask such people "how are you?" i desperately hope that they answer "Down in the dumps." or "never been worse.". I totally hate the guts of such people and wish that they must be wiped off the face of the planet for the good of humankind.
Now some of my friends will definetely want to know names of persons who give rise to such emotions in me but to them i say-you'll never get it out of me!
2.)The third degree-The "Hi-Bye" degree
Friends belonging to this category are yet to judged, that is if they give positive vibes they will be promoted to the next degree and in case of negative response pushed down unceremoniously to degree four.
When we ask such people "How are you?" we do so with no feelings whatsoever and it doesn't matter if they are doing well or not. The conversation can last upto a maximum of 5-10 min after which becomes a cumbersome exercise you want to get over with asap.
3.)The second degree-The "Oh my god i'm so happy to see you!!" degree
It really feels good to meet someone from this category, generally these are old close friends whom we meet after a long time.
When we ask these people "how are you?" we genuinely wish that they are doing good and are happy in their lives. Most of the times the conversation last an entire evening ending only with a promise that we should meet more often.
4.)The first degree-The "Dont say anything." degree
These are the people who make life worth the effort. They are the closest friends we have a.k.a. "the best friend" . Generally they are very few in number so are very precious.
We don't have to ask them "how are you?" because one glance at their face is enough to let you know the kind of day they are having. The silence shared with these people says more than thousand words and conversations are not bound by strings of time.
Thats it..these are my four categories of friends! I think most of us have large number of friends of degree two and three few in degree four and even lesser in degree one. Because degree one type relationships take a lot of time to form and once we have such friends we should try not to lose them for our whole lives.
So cheers to the best human relationship called "friendship" and cheers to friends. Till next time be good and do good.:)
The chain of events starts with the meeting of eyes. Now this where you get caught in the trap, once the eyes are locked then a slight smile curves up on your lips and you both walk up to each other, each waiting for other to ask some ice breaking question first. The usual one is "How are you?", but nowdays its been replaced by a single word "Wassup??". Then few obvious question like "What r u doing?" or "Where are you nowdays?". The toughest part starts when these questions have been answered. An awkward silence follows where each one brainstorms to think of the next question. But unable to think of anything you hope that your "aquaintance " is in a hurry and will spare you the guilt of saying "gotta go buddy!". Or you desperately pray to God to make your phone ring and let you escape. But God is a very funny man, so your phone doesn't ring and you only have to plan your escape from that place.
The key to avoid the whole torture is to stop the eyes from meeting. If you can avoid the eyes then you are safe and sound and no one can ever trap you into talking more than you want to. And as you might've guessed by now thats what my friend and i did to get away from our "aquaintance".
Now this small incidence got me thinking, what kind of feelings can a person generate in us. And after contemplating for a long time i could safely divide these feelings into four degrees which i call "THE FOUR DEGREES OF FRIENDSHIP". These four degrees are:-
1.)The fourth degree -The "Where is exit door?" degree
If you know people who make you turn back and run as fast as possible then you will know the meaning of this genre. And if you dont know such people then ...you are lying:-).
Whenever i ask such people "how are you?" i desperately hope that they answer "Down in the dumps." or "never been worse.". I totally hate the guts of such people and wish that they must be wiped off the face of the planet for the good of humankind.
Now some of my friends will definetely want to know names of persons who give rise to such emotions in me but to them i say-you'll never get it out of me!
2.)The third degree-The "Hi-Bye" degree
Friends belonging to this category are yet to judged, that is if they give positive vibes they will be promoted to the next degree and in case of negative response pushed down unceremoniously to degree four.
When we ask such people "How are you?" we do so with no feelings whatsoever and it doesn't matter if they are doing well or not. The conversation can last upto a maximum of 5-10 min after which becomes a cumbersome exercise you want to get over with asap.
3.)The second degree-The "Oh my god i'm so happy to see you!!" degree
It really feels good to meet someone from this category, generally these are old close friends whom we meet after a long time.
When we ask these people "how are you?" we genuinely wish that they are doing good and are happy in their lives. Most of the times the conversation last an entire evening ending only with a promise that we should meet more often.
4.)The first degree-The "Dont say anything." degree
These are the people who make life worth the effort. They are the closest friends we have a.k.a. "the best friend" . Generally they are very few in number so are very precious.
We don't have to ask them "how are you?" because one glance at their face is enough to let you know the kind of day they are having. The silence shared with these people says more than thousand words and conversations are not bound by strings of time.
Thats it..these are my four categories of friends! I think most of us have large number of friends of degree two and three few in degree four and even lesser in degree one. Because degree one type relationships take a lot of time to form and once we have such friends we should try not to lose them for our whole lives.
So cheers to the best human relationship called "friendship" and cheers to friends. Till next time be good and do good.:)
Comments
However there were some friends I thought about who kept jumping between levels two, three and four with a speed comparable to orbital velocity of electrons! When I met them after long time, I did indeed feel good and wished that they did well. But after talking to them for sometime, I felt they have changed a lot and that they took me for granted. And thats when they were unceremoniously pushed to category four :-)