My best friend is my wonderful daughter. She is a true inspiration. She is caring and loving and smart, and I am blessed for her to be a part of my life. When I look ahead to my future I see her always there with me. I cannot think of a day or time without her. She is truly a magnificent person inside and out and I cherish her and her friendship. She is a dream come true and a person as true as a person can be. I am truly grateful that she is here to walk this earth with me. I love you sweet Rupasi, my daughter, my heartbeat, and my best friend.

— Mom (Ishwari)

When I had come to Kathmandu, I had joined intermediate level in the Science stream. I became good friends with one of my classmates — a girl. Sharing ideas and solving every problem I thought we were becoming good friends, but I realised she had crush on me. I felt it could only disturb my studies. I could not let go of such a good friend so I convinced her that we could have such a relationship later. And she is my good friend till today. I learnt that it is better to tell your friends all your doubts and you will be relieved. There might be anger for few days but all will be the same after a while.

— Kashiram Pandey, Gongabu

Friends are those people with whom we can share our secrets and feelings. I have many friends, but Sophiya is my best friend. One day there was a misunderstanding between us. We didn’t talk for many days but unknowingly I used to talk with her and unknowingly she also used to talk with me. After some days I couldn’t control myself. I said sorry to her and I think that she too realised her mistake and said sorry. That day I felt very happy because I got my friend back. From this incident I learned that friends are very important. 

— Ashmita Rungta

The sweetest of joys, the loveliest of flowers or the melody of songs cannot compare to the beauty of friendship. But some bitterness in friendship can lead to the death of trust in friends and some add more spice on friendship. When I was in Class XI, I used to an arrogant type of girl but was very sincere about my studies. One day one of my friends was just teasing me by linking me with some guy. I became very angry and scolded her very badly, so badly that tears fell from her eyes. Then she just stopped talking to me. I apologised but she refused to accept it. Finally after two days I wrote, ‘I’m extremely sorry. Lets patch up’, on blackboard of our classroom. After that she accepted my apology and we still are the closest of friends. I realised how special friends are in my life and I almost lost it.

— Roji Karki, Jadibuti

The incident happened some five years ago. My friend and I had this big misunderstanding and the only solution was not talking to each other. Till today we don’t speak to each other. And it has made no difference in my life. I have learnt that if there is a misunderstanding, then you have already lost the friendship you had. No matter what effort you put in, the relationship won’t be good. It’s better to get over it.

— Niju Shrestha

Of course we choose friends and try to do our best to keep the friendship. But many times we get betrayed, this is because we have expectations from them. In my view, expectation is the main cause due to which we get hurt by our near and dear ones. So in order to save ourselves from being hurt, we shouldn’t expect anything from others. But we are human beings and it’s our nature that we expect the same behaviour from those we consider our friends. True friendship is that in which feelings are shared without expressing verbally and with the least expectation!

— Rakshya Niraula

Last year I also faced a rough phase in my friendship when I had misunderstanding with a friend. On Friendship Day I asked for forgiveness but she shouted at me. I thought I had done my duty by apologising. It has been a whole year and she has not talked to me. But I am hopeful that maybe this year she will come and talk to me. I just want to tell her I miss her a lot.

— Aastha Nepal,

Shantinagar

Prakash and I were friends from Class III. In childhood days, we used to have lots of fights but that used to last for couple of hours only. But one day while we were preparing for Class XI board exam, we started having a heated conversation about something, which I don’t remember now. “Don’t talk to me from now”, he said ending the discussion. I also said cruel words and walked away from his house. Since then I have not been to his place. I didn’t even miss him. About a week later while I was passing by his house, his father called me and told me that Prakash’s grandfather had passed away. I didn’t know what to do but I could not ignore his father’s word. So I went to meet him. There I saw him and smiled at him slightly. He smiled as well. After that we buried our hatchet and started talking as we used to. No one knew about that fight of ours. From that day till now, no such incidents have happened. We have learnt how special our friendship is and how lucky and fortunate we are to be friends.

— Anil Siwakoti

I had a very good friend from my school days who was always there for me. But when I was in class XII I joined a new group of friends. We didn’t talk to each other for many days. She was too good to complain about the way I treated her, but gradually she started ignoring me. Then I felt really bad, but I was too stubborn to work on it so I just let it be. But after sometime I realised that nobody else but she was my only true friend whom I was betraying. So I called her and asked her if she had anything to say about my behaviour. Initially she didn’t respond but when I insisted, she told me that she felt very bad and left out she felt because of me. Then I apologised to her and asked her to meet me. So, we met and cried for being so stupid and promised never to let each other alone. From then on we never let anybody come between us.

— Kirti Karki, Biratnagar

It started with harmless teasing and soon ended in heated argument. Both of us said things to each other which we regretted later. The clash of our egos prevented us from talking to each other, let alone apologise. I felt miserable the whole day and couldn’t concentrate on anything at school. But nothing would make me go up to her. She wasn’t making efforts too, so, it seemed we would never be friends again. Since I was absent during the previous PE class, I was unaware of certain steps, which got our PT display all wrong. Swallowing her ego, she stepped forward and corrected my steps, thus, making the situation lighter. By the time the class was over, we were laughing and chatting like nothing had ever happened.

— Rhea Gurung, Jawalakhel

Once my best friend got angry with me for no reason at all. It really hurt me and it almost ended our friendship. But I discussed it with her and we came to a positive conclusion. Now our relation is good. So for any argument, we must talk it over coolly. I consider friend is god and love is worship. I can’t live without a friend. I want to wish a happy Friendship Day to all friends.

— Situ Sainju, Panauti

I have experienced misunderstandings, and when that happens I don’t argue; instead I stay quiet and within two minutes either me or she confesses and problem gets solved. Through these misunderstandings, we have got to know each other much better.

— Mila Shakya

Friendship involves two people, without one there is no friendship. A person is only complete when s/he has a true friend to understand her/him, to share all their passions and sorrows with. I have experienced misunderstandings and fights. And because of the misunderstandings I have had to suffer loneliness, sickness and more. But, I learnt that relationships come and go, but friends will last a lifetime. So we need to have the power of understanding in friendship and friends.

— Rajesh Gautam

‘Raj’, Samakhusi

My best friends’ names are Sagar, Sushan, Samyak and Bibesh. When we became friends, we were in Class VI. Now we are in Class VII. We fight at times but they are always there when I need them. Without friends life would be dull and depressing. They bring fun to our life.

— Royal Prakash Bista

I do not have many disagreements with my best friend. We understand each other but sometimes we don’t listen to each other. I remember one day we got bored of playing on the swing and decided to play other games. But we could not decide on which game to play. So we had an argument, then we went to our class teacher and she advised us that we could

take turns and listen to each other. We decided to give it a try and shared

our ideas, which was

fun. Game that was suggested by my friend was really fun and easy to play. From this I have learned that we should also listen to other’s ideas and wishes. It makes each other’s feelings clear and listening to each other makes our friendship more strong. We should not think that we are always right.

— Sweecha Raut

We were good friends. Unfortunately our friendship reached its nadir when I expressed my love for her. She had been close and affable to me as a friend but I mistook it for love. She felt it was big mistake to have trusted me as a friend because she had not expected me to propose. I felt bad and apologised instantly. To give continuity to our friendship meant that we needed to maintain distance so that my one-sided feelings for her wouldn’t blossom anymore. It worked and she is still my friend and we often talk through mails. 

— Bibhor, Nepalgunj

I had a true friend with whom I shared everything. Alleging that I had spread rumours about him, which he had heard from others, he broke our friendship. This misunderstanding lasted for some years. Afterwards, we both tried to meet each other and talk and then he understood that it was false. Then he expressed his sorrow and apologised. Then we became friends again. I have learnt that any misunderstanding that happens between friends can be handled by frank talk.

— Mohan Narshingh Shrestha, Kupondole

No matter how true a friendship is, there will be small arguments between friends. I have also gone through bitter arguments with my friend but they don’t last long. We were having a dance competition. When we were practising, my best friend said that my other two friends were not good at dancing and that could ruin our performance. I was shocked to hear this from my closest friend. I argued with her saying that no one is perfect in this world. Everybody was angry with her. So, we all decided not to dance with her. Later I realised that it was my mistake because I was the one who separated her from her friends. I apologised to her and we were friends again.

I learnt that we should never take steps without thinking, otherwise friendship might come to an end. I also learnt that we must think with a cool mind to avoid fights.

— Ashmita Bhandari

I recently had such a bitter experience in my new friendship. I had a new friend whom I knew only through emails and had never seen her. Suddenly she misunderstood me with one of the emails sent to her through my address, but actually it was not sent by me. Thankfully she replied. In fact, she also included that mail. I realised it was indeed a very disturbing message and I apologised. Everything was settled and we are back again on track. I learned knowing someone is not easy. I also learned that there are not just internal factors that ruin a friendship but other hurdles as well. To know there are hurdles is mandatory to keep one’s friendship strong.

— Surya

It happened when we were in the final year of our school life. There were five of us sharing a strong bond of friendship. Our school had participated in an inter-school basketball tournament and since Bijay (one among us) was an active member of our school team, obviously he as very busy. Because of his busy schedule, we hardly saw him, which created a

distance between us. He wasn’t involved in any of our plans and wasn’t there with us. We missed him, but we started feeling

that he was avoiding us

deliberately and that he was no longer the old friend of ours. Then we started avoiding him too and quarrelled over nothing. Our fight only lasted for 4-5 days. All of us realised our mistakes and the incident has helped to create a better understanding among us.

— Brownstone

During my school days I had lots of friends and we loved playing ring-ball. Catching the ball was not so easy and very few of us could do it. So those who were expert would call others with nickname — lazy. Nobody liked to be called that. So everyone would try their best too avoid being called lazy. One day, a girl who was not good at the game was able to catch the ball. Overwhelmed by the success, she forgot to pass the ball and kept holding it and started screaming with joy. Meanwhile, a dog approached her. We could not control ourselves and laughed. One girl from our team teased the girl saying that even the dog had joined her to celebrate her victory. This sarcastic remark offended the girl so much that she became upset and left the game without speaking a single word. We never expected that she would react in that way. Our intention was not to hurt her. We were

sorry. We all apologised

to her. This is how we sorted out the problem. However, this incident taught us that to be outspoken could be costly at times. So we should try to understand the feeling of a friend before making remarks about her.

— Ambika Pandey,

Chitwan