The crazy things we do with our BFF

Life without friends is unimaginable. It’s a family we choose for ourselves outside of “blood relations”. In a vast list of people in our lives that qualify as ‘friends’ there are a few whom we treat special the best friends. Everyone has that one close friend, the one that you can count on to be there for you, the one you want to share your secrets with, the one you want to do fun things with, the one you want to just hang out with; that’s your best friend.

The ‘International Best Friends Day’ was celebrated world over on Wednesday. It’s a special day to recollect happy times spent with one's close friends. Although its origin is unknown, it is observed chiefly in the US to thank one's best friends for sharing many wonderful moments together. So, what makes one a best friend?

“You don't realise someone is your best friend; it's just when they do something that it hits you this is the one. For me, I realised that Unnati Palan is my best friend when she remembered those tiny details and even those crushes that one forgets. And of course, pulls your leg indefinitely for your stupid words. It’s not one thing, but a collaboration of moments both happy and sad, that told me she's my bae,” shares Jaipur-based ACS, Harpreet Kaur from Jaipur.

Sure, to a large extent, a best friend is who they are for what they make us feel. And, it is this extreme comfort level we share with them that makes us do crazy things leading to what are known as, wonderful memories. “One of the craziest things I did was when my best friend and I went skinny dipping under the moonlight during a trip in Himachal Pradesh.

It was a pond of unknown depth. We had to walk 2 km through a jungle to get to the place. We had no clothes on and no fear of what the consequence would be,” shares Delhite Ankit Sharma. “I was visiting my friend Sreenidhi in Bengaluru and after attending classes the whole day we were tired and bored by evening. When we took an auto, there was a stretch of a kilometer, which was slightly empty and Sree had this mad urge to ride the auto.

It took a bit of convincing but, she was able to convince the driver that we can manage it and no one would come to know. That was the first and the last time I ever drove an auto. Almost ended up crashing it once or twice but when I look back it was totally crazy and makes us laugh,” says Senior Finance Analyst Narendra Pingale from Hyderabad.

Other times, it could be the everyday simple things we do with them. “My best friend is my school buddy, Vikrant. The days we spent together during our college; travelling by bus, bunking lectures and going to movies. It was a different time altogether,” points out Yusuf Rangwala, graphic designer from Pune. Even though our best friends can drive us mad sometimes, we still love them.

“One time, my best friend had to go meet a boy as her mother was forcing her into an arranged marriage with him. I remember staying up the whole night plotting with her on busting the whole thing. It was quite epic. We spent the night trying to dig dirt on the guy. We stalked him practically everywhere. We slept late, and by the time I woke up in the morning, she announced that she fell in love with the boy!” exclaims Sunaina Patnaik from Hyderabad whose best friend’s erratic behaviour baffled her.

“Thankfully, they didn’t get married,” she adds. And, finally there is that one best friend who becomes such a significant part of our life that we can’t live without them for even a day. Archit Naagar from Delhi affirms our point. “I married her,” he says on being asked about the best memory with his best friend. The bond is eternal.

By Asra Ghouse