In life, we often come across a lot of people. Some stay with us forever, and some people are just temporary. Nevertheless, we create memories for a lifetime with few of them. They are called friends. We start from being strangers, then getting closer each day, only to build a bond so beautiful and pure! Such is the beauty of true friendships. Yes, in today’s world, a true friend is hard to get, but if you do get one, treasure them for life. A person who has no blood relations with you, yet they love you so much and they just stay with you, through the thick and thin is really hard to get.
With International Friendship Day around the corner, let us all cherish the history behind this beautiful concept of celebrating friendship, specially in India. So, let us start from the very beginning. The idea of International Friendship Day was first proposed in Paraguay in 1958. The importance of this holiday gradually declined with time. But, thanks to the social media platforms that revived the existence of this day, all over the world. But before that, in 1919, people who fought for the holidays in South Asia addressed that a day should be solely dedicated to celebrate and rejoice in the aura of such a beautiful bond that friendship is! It popularised the exchange of greeting cards, friendship wrist bands, flowers and chocolates among friends. Gradually, with time, it was approved by the government in 2011 as International Friendship Day. 30th July is celebrated as the International Friendship Day all over the world. But India celebrates the first Sunday of August as the International Friendship Day. In some other countries like Ohio and Oberlin, Friendship Day is celebrated every year on 9th April.
Friendship Day was always there in India, but it was never celebrated that way. As we all know, that India is a developing country, and such things were not given much importance earlier. But, after 2011, it was popularised more and more because of social media and the OTT platforms. At this point, Friendship Day is celebrated all over India.
This is true that there shouldn’t be just one particular day to celebrate friendship. If you love someone, you should treat them good everyday. But in today’s world, with people having such tight and hectic schedules, we often can’t take the time out for our friends. But this one day can be an exception. We can take out some time for our friends this day and just make them feel special. We may get some gifts for friends or friendship day gifts. It is just a gesture to show them, that we care. To show them that we love them, doesn’t really depends on the price tag that comes with the gifts, but with the emotions that you put into it. That actually makes it the best gifts for friends. After all, why miss a chance to reminisce about all those memories that we had together, and admiring each other? Let us celebrate this friendship day, with love and joy. Even if we can’t meet them this year, we should still not fail to make them feel loved, and special.
