Marriages and Friends

We all know people who fall in love during their teens or even in 20s. But we hardly hear of people falling head over heels in their 30s and 40s. Mainly because in the subcontinent most of the people are married by then and raising kids. Those few who have not tasted the Laddoo (sweet meet) of marriage by then have been pushed to suicidal limits by their friends who have been married happily or unhappily. Both cases are not good for the so-called virgins (which is still in demand by the way!) because all that married people can talk about (and by people i mean wives) are their marriages, in laws or kids, that the unmarried looners have got nothing to do with. The importance of an undisturbed game of "Mortal Combat"or an episode of "Zindagi Gulzaar Hay"  and  the complete oblivion to the smell of a dirty nappy during that time is not understandable to them.  Neither is the nagging mother in law or the maid who takes a lot of days off! Yet they pretend to take deep interest in all these issues and even offer sometimes to help morally or physically! In return they get showered with love , praise and sometimes envy that secretly makes them feel good about themselves. All the while when they want to have all that their married friends have , the married people take a breeze of the times long gone by through the lives of their friends. Men by having those mindless gaming sessions, or discussing machines; women by romanticising the boys in their friends lives and juicing up other spicy details of their love lives. Hence when people fall in love under such conditions there is a lot of background music being composed.And they fall really really hard in love. Majority of these love stories are boring but super hit because everyone is settled financially , parents are also relieved that finally their son/daughter has found someone worth marrying, and they themselves are excited to be part of the couples lot now.

     But one thing that no one foresees is the one thing that is at stake. That is the one thing that pushed all these feelings forward and the one things that brought double times the spice in the relationships; the friendship. Once these people get married they find it hard to find times for their friends who have been married since ages and have been providing the hanging out pad. These guys are starting their new lives, have to have children soon too as the wife is not getting any younger, and therefore the friendships suffer. The same people go to the background and the same problems that once seemed so trivial take the foreground gradually.

   And so the life flies by...They all meet after decades and wonder where did it all go? How could time fly by so swiftly without making them ever being aware of it!  Love, Marriage, Children, Parents.... everything that was tangible in relationships was of course important and perhaps each more beautiful than the other... but one thing that made them even more beautiful was the presence of friendship in all those relationships...and for the unfortunate ones, the absence of it. And our friends whether we met everyday or once in a decade have been that weird constant in our lives that made the whole equation balanced.
      This is for all my friends out there who have loved me, supported me and left me.

P.S: H.H...you are the best friend of mine  ;)