When a person mentions Friendship Day in Tamil Nadu, the mind naturally begins to think of two things – a nice colorful friendship band and A.R.Rahman’s voice singing ‘Mustafa Mustafa Don’t Worry Mustafa’.
Of course, Friendship Day is more than songs and bands, it is a day to celebrate the bond we have with our friends. We have come across lots of jargons to address our friends like ‘Nanba’, ‘Macha’, ‘Dosthu’ and so on but more than words, friendship is an emotion.
We all need a friend to say ‘You can’ when we are trying to accomplish a task, and we definitely need a friend who can tell us ‘What you are doing is wrong’ when we are making a mess out of life. Lucky are those who have such gifted friends in life. It is easy to make friends but hard to maintain it.
Though our ambitions take us on different roads, making us miss our friends in the past, a special day for friends naturally brings them to our mind. In India, the first Sunday of August is celebrated as Friendship Day. The Covai Mail managed to speak with few inspiring personalities about what they think about Friendship and also share a few words about their friends.
It takes integrity to keep friendship together
-Meenakshi Arvind, State General Secretary, Mohila Morcha- BJP TN
“I have friends everywhere and I cannot name just one or two” is what Meenakshi told us when we first asked to speak about her close friends. Of course she is an avid traveller and is sure to meet new people and get to know them. When asked who that recent buddy was, she made while she was travelling, she said in a flash, Neha Dua from Delhi.
“I met Neha’s brother on a road trip. He shared with Neha about me and we spoke online.” After sharing a few words about Neha, it was clear that Meenakshi shares a bond with her that is unexplainable. Neha became the traveler, riding all the way to Coimbatore from Delhi to just meet Meenakshi. “I find myself looking at a younger me in her” is what she had to say.
Travelers get to taste the delicious foods from different corners of the globe, but to Meenakshi her Coimbatore close friend Sureka’s food preparations are the delicacies she relishes. “Shobana Kumar’s Tamarind Rice is the best”, she adds.
“Priya Rajpal is a friend who has put her life at stake for me. She is full of life. She will do everything to keep her word up. Prem Kumar is someone who anchors me down. He is my Go-To-Friend. If you tell him a secret, he will take it to his graves.”
“It takes a lot of integrity to keep friendship together. Friends should not be the ones who go around saying and agreeing to everything we do. We need friends who can tell it to our faces what is that we are making wrong”, and Meenakshi says that getting such friends has been one of the best things in her life.
Good friends, not Good number of friends, matter !
– Sonali Pradeep, Social Activist
I am proud to say I have only few friends in my life. Of course all of them are good hearted and that is what I like about them. Friendship is not about bragging that we have a good number of friends in our circle.
We should consider ourselves lucky if we have just few good friends who really care for us. The numbers don’t matter. We should cherish such friends as our treasures.
Friends gave me incredible energy & guidance
– Actor ‘Madhampatty’ Rangaraj
Sharing with us about a few of his friends who have played a significant role in his life, Actor ‘Madhampatty’ Rangaraj mentioned that it was his friend Karthik who had changed his life in college and gave valuable guidance when he decided to make catering service as his major destination.
“I studied in Tamil medium and I come from a village background. Computer was new to me but Karthik, my best friend was there to guide me. During weekends he would come to Madhampatty to help me with studies. We would learn together. He kept motivating me constantly. When I decided that I should take up catering, he guided to take up a 1-year course in a Polytechnic College before entering into the field. His suggestions have been of wonderful assistance today in my life”
“My college mate Manju is more than a friend to me. I consider her as my younger-sister. Almost 20 years have passed since we finished our college. Still our bond grows strong”. He added that though the occasions to meet and greet close friends have become less because of work related commitments, the gang comes together on Diwali and maintains watching movies in theaters till now.
Besides running one of Tamil Nadu’s biggest catering services, Rangaraj stepped into Kollywood last year. When asked about his buddies there, he said “in my debut, I earned RJ Vignesh as a good friend. I also made friends with Linga in my second film. Even after the shooting is over, we maintain our friendship.”
“Friendship is the relationship in which you can immediately share any joy or sorrow and get guidance. Friends give an energy that is incredible and on this friendship day, I would request you all to pick up phones and greet the friends you miss”.
All who support us are friends !
– Actor Sathish
In our lives, some friends would play the role of mother, father,teacher and even God; may be that is why they were not separately given a place among the saying ‘Matha, Pitha, Guru, Deivam’.
I consider everyone, who see me on screen and appreciate the work I do, as my best friends. Even if they have not directly met me anywhere, their kindness is something I value, and in that sense all of you are my good friends.
Friends never let us down
-Actor Daniel Pope
There are so many things to share about friends. I would say that friendship is the relationship that travels with us till the very end. All other bonds we make may leave us in the middle, but friends don’t let us down. Celebrate with friends, Celebrate Friendship, safely!
