Friendship

Our friend's
h(OM)e is where we all gather ocassionally for our soirees. It is a place for indolence, a rendezvous for dissolving (post-traumatic) stress disorders that our hectic life has brought on us. We hit the bottles there though she hardly tastes it and if she does she treats drinks as the most obnoxious invention of wo/man.
A public function organised for felicitating the makers of a film that won the national award for the best film the other day was the raison d'etre for our last gathering and it went off well with discussions, gossips and quarrels on issues and non-issues. Ours is a close-knit company having opinions on everything under the sky. It is a rarity at a time when people find themselves confined to their jobs, families and creeds. They hardly recognise the importance of enjoying life's beauties.
A colleague of mine told me the other day that he was having sleep disorders. He practised Yoga, went to Ayurveda and then Homoeopathy practitioners even as he was taking some sleeping pills without doctor's prescription. I advised him to go to a sleep therapist and undergo tests in a sleep lab in Chennai. I also asked him to make behavioural changes. Behavioural changes? He could not see any behavioural problem to be corrected. But later he admitted that he would loose his temper easily. Our problem is we don't ask why we are easily prone to anger. I asked this colleague to observe his anger the next time he is furious to his wife and ask why to himself. Anger, I told him, was a symptom of some deeper trouble involving relationship, work and colleagues etc. He likes company but he doesn't join because his wife does not want him to be with any company. I can only pity him.
Look at our our gang of friends. I sometimes wonder how the friendship has emerged. It has just happened and every member of the group wants it, come what may. We, the members, have become gang-junkies, and every time we meet we plan our next meeting. At our next meeting, there will be Champagne. We will just pop the cork and give a toast.

(This is a photo taken during my visit to Stuttgart in Germany in June 2002)