Friends & Distance

A recent conversation about whether “long distance relationships last” took a very interesting turn with me giving it a new angle. While my friends were divided on whether it can work, I asked them what their opinion would be had the topic been about friendship. All of us were quiet for a while, thinking. As for me, I was thinking bout the last days of school life, when we all frantically filled up slam books, promising to keep in touch no matter how far our destinies took us. Thinking of it now, I can’t help laughing! What a load full of crap! We do keep in touch, like once in a year with a handful of people from school. But does that count as “friends” keeping in touch? It’s been three semesters and the numbers have dwindled since the start from around 10 to 2 right now. So my argument was that the essence of friendship remains with the memories but it does diminish with time when there is a lot of distance and no contact. I mean we meet new people, make new friends and when the older friends don’t keep in touch it really is lost over a period. Maybe for a couple of years we will try and keep talking on the phone, but after that everyone gets bored and suddenly its time to move on. And the phone conversations don’t help after a while when we don’t get to meet. However realistic they maybe, these conversations are still ‘virtual” and need to be supported with real meets and new fun to keep the fond memories going. When these don’t happen, we tend to move with people with whom we really can spend time with. Those who were saying long distance relationships can work were looking helplessly at me. But it’s the truth right?

Then came the stage we all dreaded: what after college? School was fun. But wasn’t really fun when compared to college right? We were more focused at studies back then and I am sure there are a lot of people(like me, I am being honest) who really don’t have much to miss about school life. There was only one choice, to give a promise that we will stay in touch no matter what. A promise, which we all knew would be broken.