How do the good friends graduate in our life?

How differently we treat/should treat cousin brother/sisters from own brother/sisters. They often try to add me in FACEBOOK with RELATIONSHIP as a “Cousin”. And I reject it all outright. Nope Nope Nope/ CUT-CUT-CUT. I will accept your friendship request, only if you accept me as BROTHER only. Don’t like that Cousin Brother, TYPE-THING! They have no choice than to list me as their BROTHER! Hee Hee… I am happy NOW!

I just love them all so dearly. God must have been kind that I have these amazing bunch of brothers are sisters. They are very respectful as I am the eldest in this generation but I always try to maintain a friendly relationship with all of them. We share everything.

Who says it is always younger learn things from elders. But in my case, I have been learning from my younger’s as well. And I am very proud of them.

When Akash Mohanty and Arup Mohanty, decided to continue living in Bhubaneswar forever and not go anywhere to work outside, I was just smiling thinking how matured they have been in their ability to see through the future. And here I am spending 15+ years outside, being a citizen of many countries other than India, started realizing that the true happiness lies, where your family is, where your friends are. But these two were able to understand and act on it since a very early age.

I always have credited Abhisek Mohanty, on his ability to maintain such a large social circle. To me, just to achieve this, at such a young age and having appetite to emphasize the need of social engagement in life; is an achievement in itself.

Tapas Mohanty – I have hardly seen someone; who believes in living a simple life, free from any jealous, unnecessary ambitions and whose sole motto is to enjoy life. Not many people are able to do this, brother, even though they want it. You are very lucky indeed. Gifted, must say.

Anup Mohanty – a great soul. That’s why I call him “Rajesh”, inspired by the character of Mohnish Behl, in the Hindi movie “Hum Sath Sath Hein”. I have great faith; Rajesh will continue to lead his life with honesty, modesty and being a great soul.

Archana Mohanty, Asima Mohanty – pillars of strength for me. Less sisters, more parents for me, even though they are younger to me. They are always so attentive to me, whether it is happiness or sadness. May god, grant such sisters to everyone in this world.

Brother in laws – Siddharth and Mithun, You guys complete my world so flawlessly. I am glad we are friends and we don’t share any formal relationship. I promise, I will keep your secrets (which you shared with me, not with your respective wives) absolutely safe. “I AM ONLY JOKING”. Like that Chunkey Pandey says in the movie.

Subrat Mohanty – example of self-discipline. Where have I seen someone who is so sober and at the same time serious about his studies, takes his own decision, does well in studies, practices yoga, and makes all of us so proud? Never have I seen this maturity in someone who is so young.

Sony, Elina, Bhadu, and Nikoo – all of them have these equally amazing qualities, which surprises me and makes me happy at the same time. These are the bunch, I grew up with and they are all repository of so much goodness and luckily they are all my brothers and sisters.

A mention of another brother becomes unavoidable here. Sibasis Nayak. There will NOT be a single person in this world, who’ll NOT consider himself being LUCKY to have a brother like Sibasis. His own SIMPLICITY is his asset and he is always, will always remain close to my heart.

How do the good friends graduate in our life? Everything moves, as the whole world moves. So our relationship must move as well, either UP or DOWN. What happens when a friendship continues being good for long, for long enough – they must graduate in such case. Sabyasachi Patnaik, Biswajeet Satpathy, and some more who don’t subscribe to FB are such friends, for whom, the word friendship has started looking slim. They always remain in my heart, as much as the family members. Hence they are brothers as well.

Why I am writing these? So? What’s wrong? I was missing interacting with Akash Mohanty for past few days, as he has met with an accident and has been in the hospital for past few days. That has inspired me writing this. Funny how Akash calls me Bhratashree (elder brother) and I call him Anuj (Younger brother) and we interact with the very polished Hindi/Sanskrit words; as those epic characters from Mahabharata, used to interact with each other. Get well soon brother. And speak to you very soon again.

And love you all, brothers and sisters! Thank you very much for being part of my life.