Friends!

 On the friendship day, a simple question! Who is a good friend? I suppose, these days, the answer would be 'someone who shares data' as that would be the contemporary version of 'a friend in need is a friend in deed'.

Levity apart, in my opinion, a friend is someone who has your good at heart. Silently but surely, such a person, rare and hence real special indeed, would work wonders to 'make' your life. (S)he would never mar it, for sure.  (S)he would never backbite, but would surely point out your errors, your mistakes, your follies to your face, without making any fuss about it. Such a person would praise you, but would sure help you remain grounded, in brief.

Yet another question, can, and should, parents and/or teachers, authority figures, in short, be friends? I would say, yes and no. Yes for the friendly style/tone, but no for the excessive familiarity. The familiar is often fulsome, and must be avoided in certain close relationships, right?

My feel is also that books indeed are THE best friends. They keep you in constant touch with the best on the earth. So do all the fine arts, music, painting, films, and so on. These are my y friendliest favourites.

Last but indeed not the least, my best friend is MYSELF, knows me the best, inside out, judges me the worst, but always for my own good, helps me truly when i am deep in douldrums, and always gives me the best company, wherever and whenever.  What say?

Pratima@ It is said you can find a 'guru' in everyone and everything you meet. So it is with friends. You can feel/find a friend in most everywhere, be it nature, the flora and fauna(remember your pet, for instance, the most invaluable friend ever), the song of the sky, the whistle of the wind, the rustle of the pages of a book, the tune of a song, the frames of a film, so on and so forth!