A Friend Remembered... Happy Friendship's Day

 

Hi… I am Ayaan.

Some lessons we learn in school stay with us long after we've forgotten the textbooks.

One of them was a simple sentence.

"A friend in need is a friend indeed."

As a child, I thought I understood exactly what it meant.

Years later, I realized I had only understood half of it.

Since today is Friendship Day, let me take you back to one ordinary afternoon in school.

Our Hindi teacher had given us an assignment two days earlier. We had to write an essay titled "बाढ़ पीड़ित की आत्मकथा" — The Autobiography of a Flood Victim.

Like most children, we waited until the last possible moment.

It was lunch break when one of my closest friends walked up to me with his notebook.

"Ayaan, can you help me?"

I sat beside him and completely forgot my own assignment. I gave him every idea that came to mind — how the essay should begin, what emotions it should carry, what the flood victim would have seen and lost and felt, and how it should end.

Somewhere between helping him write his essay, I forgot to write mine.

The lunch bell rang.

The next day, our teacher asked my friend to read his essay in front of the class.

He stood up confidently.

As he read each paragraph, I found myself smiling quietly.

Those were my thoughts. My imagination. My words.

When he finished, the teacher smiled and said — "Very good."

For a brief moment, I felt strangely proud.

And then something happened that I still remember with deep affection.

My friend looked towards me and said "Ma'am… Ayaan helped me write it."

He could have quietly accepted every bit of that praise. He didn't. He chose honesty over applause. The teacher looked at me and smiled warmly. 

Then she asked the one question I wasn't prepared for.

"Very good. Now let me see your essay."

Silence.

Because while helping him I had forgotten to write my own.

The warmth in her expression disappeared. The next thing I remember is the sharp sting of a wooden duster landing on my hand.

That was my punishment.

Back then, it hurt.

Today — it only makes me laugh.

Looking back, I don't remember the pain. I don't remember the marks. I don't even remember what grade either of us received.

What I remember is my friend giving me credit when he didn't have to.

Years passed.

School became college. College became work. Life became busy.

Birthdays became WhatsApp messages.

Conversations became reactions.

Meetings replaced lunch breaks. EMIs replaced shared tiffin boxes. And somewhere in all of that — quietly, without anyone deciding it — the friend I once shared every idea with became someone I now occasionally see in a social media post.

Sometimes I wonder — when was the last time I asked him "How are you?"

Not as a formality. Not because a birthday reminder popped up on my screen.

But because I genuinely wanted to know. Perhaps neither of us forgot the friendship.

Perhaps life simply became louder than it. Funny, isn't it?

As children, friendship meant sharing lunch. Lending a pencil. Helping with homework. Getting punished together.

As adults — we struggle to find five minutes to call the very people who once knew everything about us.

So today, on Friendship Day, I am not celebrating a date on the calendar.

I am celebrating the people who walked beside us before life became complicated.

The ones who laughed with us. Fought with us. Shared our secrets. Covered for us. Believed in us.

And perhaps — before this day ends, I will call that old friend.

Not because Friendship Day reminded me.

But because somewhere inside me, that little boy who once shared all his ideas during lunch break still believes it.

A friend in need is a friend indeed.

And sometimes —

A friend remembered is one too.

Happy Friendship Day.

— Ayaan | And I am still learning, one friendship at a time. 🤝

The people who knew you before life got complicated — they deserve more than a reaction on a post. Call them.

More Dreams to Come…