We'd asked you, dear readers to tell us how you met your best friend.
'Zindagi ki dhun, pyaar aur dosti ki jugalbandi se baante hai (the duet of friendship and love tunes the melodies of life)' says Omkar Shibad describing his friendship.
- 'We've been best friends for 18 years'
- 'We never try to control each other'
- #DostiDiaries: A brother from another mother
- 'Distance was never an issue for us'
My gang of friends and I have been together for almost a decade now.
We all met during our full-time MBA course in Mumbai University and have been together since then.
Let me introduce you to my friends:
Dujon Fernandes from Bandra and Hitesh Bhayani from Charni Road were the two townies of our gang.
Dujon is successfully handling creative functions in one of Mumbai's leading digital marketing firms and also does theatre at the annual Bandra fest.
Hitesh has successfully expanded his firm dealing in diamond and precious stones and has married and settled down this year itself.
The rest of the gang are ones more closely knitted mainly due to the suburban proximity and sharing the same humble middle-class upbringing.
As they say, sooner or later, distance creeps up its ugly nose.
They meet us, but not as frequently as before. We meet at important functions like marriages and family functions and whenever we do, it rekindles the magical days gone by.
Sanket Phatarpekar shares with me more than 14 years of bonding since our college days at ML Dahanukar.
We have been there, done that. We have seen each other through our highs and lows.
He's married Kavita Pingle and they share the youngest scion of our gang, Aarohi.
Both are working professionals doing great in their respective marketing assignments and are the veterans of the group guiding us as in our personal decision-making.
Kavita hails from Satara and she's the motherly figure to all of us.
Smit Mehta, the shy boy to the world is the horse's tail of our group.
There's not one moment that I have spent with this guy where I haven't been either cracking up or been in a discussion which was worth its time.
Smit dreams to own his own house in Mumbai but he's currently helping other people fulfil their dreams of owning a house. He's associated with Shaporjee Pallonji in their Business Development team.
Parimal Mehta: Without a Chandler and Joey, there would be no Friends.
Without Jay and Veeru, there wouldn't be a Sholay.
My right wing man for life (only we know how we passed finance exam) and I still laugh at each other when we realise we are associated with multinational companies and handle portfolio of clients worth millions.
Rebecca Miranda: She's the most special friend the entire gang has.
We both have had our share of fights and rants but nevertheless are together through thick and thin.
There's a bond that we both share that is uniquely different and if I had to scribble it down, it would take another article of its own.
From reading to mythology, travelling to gossip, we are glued for life. She married a successful IT entrepreneur last year and has successfully handled her professional HR career with her budding household.
Between me, Parimal and Rebecca, we share more than a dozen travel trips and over 10,000 km in India and touch wood, we are going stronger day by day.
Dynamics change over months and years; it's easy to 'move on' but it's tougher to stay together.
The photograph above was taken in August 2011, when we took a road trip to Amby Valley.
Celebrate Friendship Day with us. Post your crazy, fun friendship photos on Rediff Zarabol #Selfie-With-Friends!
