“They laugh with us, they cry with us. They stand for us, they sacrifice for us. They fight with us, they fight for us”, such is the spirit of true friendship. It is easier to make friends but to sustain friendship could be as tough as passing the physics exam while majoring in English. Since time immemorial friendship is believed to be one of the most beautiful and the least controversial relation which two individuals can share; irrespective of all the superficial differences. The first “best friend” in play school and then the series of changing “best friends” marks the initial lessons in friendship for most of us. But as time passes by and childhood gives way to adolescence, we begin to have a better understanding of our identity as an individual. Our friends may change, but the impact and influence each one of them has is noteworthy. As we reach the college, friends suddenly become an indispensable part of our lives. We share with and care for them.

But as we enter Shakespearean third stage of adulthood, we realize how important it is to have someone who promises to stand by in the “thicks and thins”, in sun and rain, in dust and heat! No matter how many people one has befriended, no matter how many friends we have on facebook and orkut, at the end of the day what matters is to have at least one caring and special person who was there when all the migratory birds flew in the other direction. He was there not only to cry at your failures and rejections but was there to smile for you when you won and he lost. No matter how mundane the conversation is, you never fall short of words. No matter how melancholic you are feeling, just a smile from you friend cheers you up. .. 

In economic jargon, if the opportunity cost of every moment spent with your friends is as low as zero then you should be sure that you have found your friend for lifetime.

“Your friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you”. So now that you have passed the acid tests and found your alter-ego, make every moment spent together memorable and let each dusk and dawn carry with it the spirit the friendship day.