International Day of Friendship
By Er Taraprasad Mishra
Every year, the first August is celebrated as Friendship Day in India. This year, the first Sunday will fall on August 1. The day is dedicated to the importance of friendships and how it shapes us as people. It is the purest form of human relationships that is not strung by blood but by love. The day was first celebrated in 1935 to celebrate the strong bonds and dedication between friends despite several differences of caste, colour, race, and culture. Even, Mahabharata describes friendship as the most pious bond of human beings that is based on faith, trust, and companionship. In India, Friendship Day is celebrated by tying a friendship band on their friends’ wrists and making promises to be BFFs. People plan a day out and exchange wishes and gifts among friends to cherish their friendship. The day reminisces the unbreakable bond of friendship . The history of Friendship Day dates back to the year 1958 when an international civil organization, World Friendship Crusade proposed it. However, on April 27, 2011, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared July 30 as official International Friendship day to promote and encourage peace, happiness, and unity. Since, then, many other countries have adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends and soon it became International Friendship Day.
Friendship Day is important because it promotes the role that friendship has in promoting peace and happiness. As everyone knows, friends are an important part of our lives who stand by us in every situation, whether good or bad. it’s a bond that involves love, understanding, and togetherness. The day honours the strong bond of friendship that exists between people regardless of color, caste, and creed. Friendship is another word for love and even when most loved ones will not entertain your 3 am tantrums, your best friend surely will. It is when we can’t look on the bright side that our friends sit with us in the dark, who see the pain in our eyes while everyone else believes our smiles. While you can be crazy with your BFFs, they are also the ones who don’t always need verbal communication to understand you and that is why friends are the greatest gift of life. Sometimes, being with your best friend is all the therapy you need and to celebrate these friends who would always love you—the imperfect you, The day is celebrated by friends exchanging greeting cards and gifts, spending quality time with their best friends, some even make friendship bands and tie it on their friends’ wrists on this day as an act of affirmation, and simply put in extra efforts to make their friends feel special or take extra care of their friends in their love languages. With Friendship Day 2021 just around the corner, make sure that you strengthen the bond between you and your friends with humility and truth, forget differences or pride or right and wrong and heal the wounds between you and who you care for. True friends are people who will stay with you no matter what and lucky are those who have these true friends around. True friends aren’t found easily but once we find them, they make life much more fun and easy. Perhaps, it is just so apt that an entire day is dedicated to these precious jewels of our life.
On this day, people send greetings to their friends and exchange gifts, not just in metro cities but other parts of the country too. It is a day to acknowledge the role your close friends play in your life. Friends can be defined as an all-time available person. They are those who stand by you in your difficult times. You don’t need any verbal communication to understand each other. Therefore, it is a bond that everyone develops before engaging themselves in any kind of intimacy.
Friends are the ones who always endure affection, esteem, intimacy, and trust. It’s a mutual affection that binds people together through different phases of life. Having good friends is a blessing that each one of us craves. It’s the day that specially belongs to the people we refer to as friends.