A Painted Veil

Sorry for ripping the title off a Somerset Maugham story but it sort of fit perfectly into this blog entry in particular.
I remember a time when in school(High school to be more precise) there were certain categories that people belonged to .
You had the faithful friends you knew right from kindergarten, then the popular 'mean girls'(straight from the Tina Fey story/Lindsay Lohan movie) that you wished you could be like, of course you had the studious nerds who culdn't hold a conversation without throwing in some anecdote they'd memorised from some history or civics text. Even your parents had a say in who you made friends with. in my experience i remember my parents wanting me to only make friends with the ones who got the best grades. It was their futile effort to try to make me the next Shakuntala Devi or something. Fortunately for me life took me on its own journey.

Frankly speaking, i wasn't the bohemian wallflower without a reason. I watched painfully as my childhood friends drifted in and out of my teenage life, one of them even managed to join a 'mean girl's' clique. But i wasn't the one to just waddle in my own self pity. I started from scratch and like a phoenix rising from its ashes i rose above the fictitious yarns i was famous for weaving . The friends i made back then still i hold dear to my heart. If you are reading this you know who you are.

My point in all this, simple. What you do in school does not in any way reflect the person you will become as a full fledged adult. In fact it is the ground lines you lay in your college years that count towards anything. My foundations were the friends i made right from my First year to the end of grad school(at the end of which i decided to embrace the life of marital bliss-that's a story set for another blog entry). Once again thanks for being you and a part of my life experience.

Now after years of taking a responsible role of wife, friend, mother,confidante, social animal, home-manager i've found that real adult life has alot of similarities to life in high school.(you'd think people would've learnt with time!) Cliques form a huge part of social circles but this time ranging from those with common age, interests,families,locations,vocations,etc. History just has a way of repeating itself through isolated incidents.
The most baffling thing i encountered was that if we live in a small community it should be easier for people to get along, but scenarios like I faced in high school like to rear their ugly heads. Its like time just took a u-turn and we're back to who's the richer person or the coolest dresser or who has the best looking house. Or sometimes who has the most well behaved children. Everyday life reduced to a competition for attention and appreciation. Friends made or lost on the basis of need not want. But every cloud has a silver lining; even in the mileu of this race to be the best you find people you can actually call your 'friends' .Those who see you through thick and this, the ones who help take care of you and your loved ones in time of need. If you need a pick me up or a little cheer they are there to do the honours.
I can very truthfully say i've been fortunate to have found the same level of friends in this stage of my life as i did during my golden 'college years'.
A toast to friendships that overtake this new world where materialism and superficiality strives to form a base. May this silver lining beneath these dark clouds stay shining.