FRIENDSHIP: an eternal bliss

Like the ten commandments of the Bible say it all about what God expects from his highest creation, this ten letter word “friendship” says all about what this ‘creation of His’ needs from each other. Man, the mortal, has been sent to this earth alone. He comes to this frenzied world in solitude, performs his predestined job and then passes away in seclusion. During this odyssey of life, some of the fortunate ones are bestowed upon by a bequest so blissful that nothing else is required to complete life. Yes, its friendship that I am talking about!! Friendship- A bond so strong that ascertains its existence even when every thing has turned against you- an attachment so effectual which enhances your worth- a connection so pristine that it understands the language of heart- and finally its a relationship that surpasses all the others by a mammoth!! Don’t you think so?? Well I do. Friendship has and will always get the gold in the race of all relationships.

I heard a saying long back-“Friendship is unnecessary like philosophy, like art…it has no survival value; rather is one which gives value to survival”. So true!! Ever imagined how your life would have been without your friends?? Even the imagination quite gives goose-bumps, isn’t it?  After all, life is partly what we make it; and partly what is made by the friends whom we choose! Now coming to the word “friend”, what best describes it is the word ‘alter-ego’, your reflection, your second self, your mirror! He is the one to whom you can confide things that reside in the deepest bottoms of your heart. He is the one to whom you look up to and exalt. He is the one who holds your hand when it’s stranded by others. He is the one who discovers a new path for you when you are between the devil and the deep sea! But hey wait!! All that glitters is not gold- not all friends do that. I mean friends come in many categories- true friends, best friends, close friends, just friends and false friends. There might be other types too, but I am acquainted only with these.

True and best friends- these two can be closely wound with each other or rather they kind of harmonize each other. True friendship is like water- transparent, pellucid and amorphous. Transparent because there’s no concealment, pellucid because there’s no pretence and amorphous because it has no boundaries. It just grows stronger with the passage of time. Friends can’t be best if they aren’t true- true to themselves and true to each other. Aristotle said “friendship is one soul dwelling in two bodies”. But I think a bit of correction is required out here; it should be “true friendship is one soul dwelling in two bodies”. Don’t you think?? I mean you can’t have your core to share with all and sundry. The one you do it with is your “true or best friend”. A small glance in the eye unveils the untold saga. That’s true friendship!! I don’t think I really need to include words like trust, loyalty, conviction, belief etc while talking about true friendship. The word ‘true’ itself speaks volumes!! It often forms the root of that one evergreen tree, love and the root is the one which gives anchorage to the plant. You stop watering the root and the tree dies automatically. So isn’t it proved that friendship is ranked first in the race of all relations??

Your true friend is your most severe, but best critic!!! No two opinions about this. He does not any have vested interest and this gives him the above title. It’s just your true friend, who is candid enough to speak unpleasant truths about you point blank. It’s rightly said “true friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost”. Your life seems lost because half of life’s battle is won if you have a true friend by your side!!

People often confuse friends with acquaintances. The category -just friends and false friends are nothing but customized acquaintances. Just friends are like fair weather friends- they shine with you in your sunny days; but will run for refuge when it rains leaving you to get wet alone! Such friends can be characterized by their conduct- there speech is more of sycophancy and obsequiousness instead of austerity and simplicity. False friends are somewhat similar to just friends. The only difference between the two is that the ‘green eyed monster’ plays its part more significantly in case of false friends. Mark my words- it’s ‘more significantly’! They are the ones who won’t hesitate to give you the advice you need the least. Beware of such ‘friends’!!! They are found in plethora!!!

“Best friends are like diamonds; precious and rare, False friends are like leaves, found every where”- I don’t know who said this; but feel like bowing my head before him!! Kudos!

As we are en route towards our destination in life, we make many friends sporadically and it is kind of indispensable, especially when we are subsisting in an era where “survival of the fittest” is the maneuvering mantra. In this metamorphism, we often tend to forget the alphabets which taught us to make words! Didn’t get me? Huh!! I’m talking about old friends fading into oblivion due to entrance of the new ones in our life. Just like alphabets teach us words, old friends form the pedestal in making the new-fangled ones. An old friend is like a photo album that gives you a walk down the memory lane in this busy life. “Forsake not an old friend, for the new one is not comparable to him. A new friend is as new as wine; when it is old, thou shall drink it with pleasure”-absolute justification!!!!

  

So, this is what friendship is all about! Call it a boon, integrity, veracity or ecstasy- friendship is eternal. You know its true worth, and you are the happiest person on earth, trust me. To brief it up in a single word, Friendship’s EDEN! I don’t have anything else to say except this:

Friendship is………….

A sojourn through the forests of uncertainty,
an expedition through the grasslands of jocularity.
a drive on the boulevard of dolor,
a voyage jam-packed with color.
a nostalgic odyssey,
a stalwart ship sailing over life’s sea………

                                                                                                             

           

       

   

MUSIC:the language of God

Ever comprehended as to why an infant stops wailing the moment he is in his mother’s arms? What is it that the mother conveys to him and all his pains are drowned in the sea of oblivion? What magic prevails in those arms that set the small “sun” shining? We all pass it on giving the universal reason- “Oh! That’s the ‘mother’ effect.” True. The mother effect is unfathomable; at least in words. But, if you take a deeper insight, you’ll understand that there is something more than those magical arms; something beyond the physical propinquity; something mightier than love that bonds the two. What could it possibly be? The motherly smile, the voice, the aroma?  Actually, neither of these really.  A new born is too young to reckon with these. Well, then there’s only one answer to it- it’s the sound of her heartbeat- the thump-thump, the rhythm, the cadence, the stillness- that reaches the smaller heart to trigger a communication-  ethereal enough to justify His ubiquity and pacific par human paradigm. Yes. The first ‘music’ of our life! The first harp on the stings of our heart! The first euphony ever learned!  

MUSIC- the word itself induces an aura so intoxicating that one can’t escape the addiction. The feel of it however cannot possibly be expounded in human tongue. To me, the feel of music is somewhat synonymous to the state of being drugged; hypnotized to the extent of drowsing one into a frenzy of peace; of calmness; of vacuum. It is one of those rare experiences of twilight when the reflections from within paint the sky of emotions scarlet. Actually trying to shackle music in the chain of few words would be like trying to count the stars. You may very well find an Oxfordian meaning of music. But that ain’t what defines it. It does not talk of soul, truth, divineness and chastity without which music cannot be apprehended. Some say it’s the speech of Gods; some say it’s the poetry of air. Whatever it might be, music is like a shadow, constantly following you from life to death. The only difference is that some are cognizant enough to befriend the shadow, while some go on unaware. It’s as easy as moving heaven and earth and still failing to find music; or finding it in the simplest of the things!

 

Confused???

I’ll tell.

Try listening to the din of the ocean; and you’ll know of the depth of music…

Ever heard the approaching of the wind? Dominant it is, isn’t it? That’s the strength of music….

The distant rumble of the rails gives way to an unending ache deep within, that’s the tenacity of music….

Doesn’t the sound of the bell that tolls at the church atop a distant hill take us a step closer to Him? It surely does. That’s the divinity of music….

So, it’s a matter of one’s perception. You feel music, you’ll find music. Now doesn’t that rhyme with what we say in context of finding God? I mean, ‘He is omnipresent. You believe, you find’- that’s what we generally say. So it can be somewhat concluded that music is His manifestation. I heard a quote long back, “Music is God’s gift to man; the only art of Heaven given to Earth, the only art we take to Heaven”. Well, that says it all. Since antediluvian times, music has been looked upon as the foremost boon from the Gods. And that’s the reason why one finds music woven so neatly in the kerchief of nature. Be it the gurgling of the river, the chirping of the birds or the thundering of the skies- music thrives in the very entity of the God carved universe.

‘Music is the literature of the heart; it commences where speech ends’- said French poet Alphonso de Lamartine. What an absolutely delightful thought! All the music that we listen to is nothing but expression of some heart-felt emotion. The beauty lies in the fact that music connotes this emotion without literal words. That’s how it differs from a poem. Music is what feelings sound like. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the greatest musician of history, once said-‘The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.’ Yes. Silence. Probably the deepest form of music. Silence is the fabric upon which notes are woven.  If music was to have a soul, then it would be silence. Music is that cup which holds the wine of silence. Some find solace in the rhythm of the silence, some fear it .For the latter, it is not actually the fear of silence, rather the fear of solitude; of detachment; of dolor; of anguish. A small piece of music is way mightier than the strongest mortal bonds that deprive one off agony. ‘He who hears music, feels his solitude peopled at once’, asserts Robert Browning.   

  

So music is the one eternal river that meanders along the path from Eden to Earth, ascertaining its existence through eras, drowning the pebbles of compunction and swelling the tides of rapture. One has to just float in order to soak in the music; soak in the life. Lastly, as Lord Byron says-   

‘There's music in the sighing of a reed;
There's music in the gushing of a rill;
There's music in all things, if men had ears,
Their earth is but an echo of the spheres’.
 

So find music, live it and life will be beautiful!

- Tritraya Bose