Friendships are forever

There is a Jewish saying: ‘Who finds a faithful friend, finds a treasure’. This is so true. No amount of money can buy the safety and happiness the nearness of a friend can bring you. My friend says, many a time relatives are a burden since they are thrust upon us. But friends are our real assets, since we get to choose them.
This brings to my mind the story my father used to tell me of his two neighbours. Ammalu teacher and Kalyanikutty teacher who lived on opposite sides of a narrow canal. They went to school and college together, and when they started working, they got to teach in the same school. Mornings they meet up at the log which served as the bridge over the canal. They walked to school together, talking incessantly. They sat side by side and had lunch together. In the evening they went back home together. At the bridge they would bid good bye to each other and say: “We will continue tomorrow.” No one knew what they talked, but they never had a dearth for subjects.
The Almighty had indeed blessed them with this friendship. They both married from very close by and they started living as neighbours. Their routine went on without any hurdles, until they retired. When they retired one after the other, their homes became their meeting points. They were my father’s contemporaries. Once my father died, there was no way we could find out what happened to them, and how the relationship between their children were.
I had always found this a fascinating story. I can visualise the happiness and security their togetherness brought to them. They were there for each other always, which helped them tide over all adverse conditions, and gave that extra sweetness to all their happiness.
Good friends are hard to find nowadays. In this rat race towards trying to achieve the unachievable, we find little time to understand each other and develop strong friendships. Only a friend can bring smile to your face and bring cheer to your heart. And true to the saying, a faithful friend is indeed a treasure.