Once again ‘friendship day’ is  here  like every year. And  the social  media  is  agog  with messages  of  friendship giving various  definitions as to  how  ‘friends  help  each other’ and   ‘friends are  forever’ and how  ‘caring and sharing ‘ is  a part  of friendship.

As a kid I  had  many friends in my coloney  where I lived   and  everyday we  used  to  play,  talk, and even fight . But by  next  day  we had forgotten everything   were  friends again. We  had  never  heard  or read  about  the  definitions of  friendship. Nor  was  it told  to us by our  parents , teachers  or elders. We  just  knew it; friend  meant  ‘you have  priviledge  rights  over  him’ . You  can  call him  at odd times, you  can borrow  a  copy  for doing  your home work,  you  could  even take  his  scooter  for  a ride,  you cud unhesitatingly borrow  money and  even  forget  about  paying him back till he asked  for it and  so on . We  were all wired through a thick  and  unbreakable cord of faith, resolve and unconditional  love for  each other. Our  parents  hardly bothered  to intervene  in our friends circle. And   if someone asked  how  many frends  you have? The quick reply would be, ‘so many’  which if elaborated  would mean  five or  six, some  would  answer  eight  to ten,  exceptions  may go  upto fifteen or  twenty.  Beyond  that even  the human mind  cannot focus on  interpersonal relationships .  The word  friend meant the person  about whom you know  everything and would vouch for him and his trust at all times.

With the coming in of  social media   this ‘unwritten but practiced concept ‘  of friendship began  to  change. A  number of  new  categories of friendships have mushroomed like ,  friendship with a  common interest, friendship for venting out feeling, friendship to  fight loneliness, friendship for  just  exploration, friendship for  duping purpose, friendship for  satisfying  lust, and the list  of motives  is not exhaustive. The social media of today has   defined  a unique  paradigm of  friendship  where  you  haven’t even met  your  friend  and  yet you  promise   friendship and all the corollaries  which  are  attached  to  the word ‘friend’. This  type of  friendship can  best  be called  ‘wireless  friendship’. And as  the  name suggests  wireless  connections  are  very tenuous. They  are always  susceptible to twists  and turns of  events in life  and   can  snap at  small ripples and  ruffles  leading to emotional   breaks. Inspite of its  shortcomings  this ‘wireless friendships’ as it may  be called    mushroomed initially through the social media of Orkut, followed  by the ubiquitous Facebook and now  with the omnipresent  Whatsapp.

And today  you  ask a person as to  how many friends does he have? The answers  runs into hundrends and  thousands. The  definitions and  promises  are  rampantly  circulating in  the social media but there is  no  cord  of faith, resolve and unconditional  love connecting these wireless friends.   He sits  inside his room and  chats  and  makes promises to  hundreds  but when he  needs help  there is  no one  to give him company,  or  share his feelings. The number of friends  has  increased in multitudes  but  the feeling of  loneliness unfortunately  has multiplied exponentially. My hypothesis is not theoretical  it can be  tested by one and  all. Try it out  yourself today and  you  will understand the  depth of your own wireless friends. Send  an SOS to your  1000 friends  on Fb or Whatapp that you are in ‘shit’ and  need  urgent help , except from those  few  wired  friends  of  your childhood  what  you will get  from the ‘wireless  friends ‘ of today will  be tons of  rhetoric and lots of  sympathy.

Long live Friendship and Friends!