One second friends

Friends the English dictionary defines as - A person you know well and regard with affection and trust.

Everyday in our life we encounter umpteen number of people many of them acquaintances and then there are a very few who actually fit into the description of, or rather carry the distinguished tabs called friends. There are a few people I know who can actually convert every acquaintance to a friend in no time and then there are a select few who actually take a hell of a long time to actually make a friend.

Although I can shyly claim to be a major player in the latter I must say I make hundreds of friends in a day. I meet them at the signal, I meet them at the market, I meet them at bus stops and I meet them on the road… Well I guess I must have riled you all to a great extent by now. You must be wondering how a guy who claims to constitute the latter half of the spectrum of friendship (taking really long to become friends) actually can claim to have hundreds of people thrust into the classification of friends.

Well not keeping you in suspense for much longer, all these people are my one second friends. Have you ever heard of them? Of course each one of us encounters such one second friends every living day of our lives. I too went along with a contented life not knowing exactly that I literally had millions of such friend until I was driving through the coffee plantations of coorg. My uncle and I were returning home when we noticed another jeep coming at us at speeds far exceeding the limit! The jeep kept closing in failing to slow down… it got closer and closer and closer… the closer it got the more nervous you get as the road is hardly wide enough to fit two jeeps and one of us have to go off road and not wanting to be the one to go into the dirt I stick to the road clambering very slowly ahead. The other jeep oblivious to any of these facts just speeds on towards us.

Driving around in cars most of the time you sometimes tend to forget that a jeep is more suited to the rugged terrain than an ordinary car, be it of any make. Wanting to preserve my tyres and in general the jeep I edge to the side of the road. By now the other jeep is manically hurdling towards us, obviously the other driver has thrown caution out the window. Awaiting patiently for the obvious to happen any second now I look out for options to get out of this mess. My brain processing the terrain and the several other calculations at speeds that would put a super computer to shame and also something that brought about an astonished look to my face.

Anytime now… 5sec, 4sec, 3sec, 2 sec… I didn’t need to get to 1! Whoooooshhhh, thud, thud, thud…

The other jeep was soon becoming a speck in my rear view mirror and to my horror I realized that I am driving on the edge of the road, certainly not something that is good for the vehicle and something that I had tried to avoid right from the beginning. A few seconds after the whole experience my uncle looks at me and asks what the hell was I trying to do. He calmly said that if you were so hell bent on saving the tyres why didn’t you just take it off the road. The tyres are made for exactly that kind of terrain. Not only that by staying on the road what have you gained nothing but a stream of obscenities shouted at you by the other driver.

It was then that I realized I had made a one second enemy. My uncle also went on to say that by going a little out of the way you actually ensure that you and the other vehicle have enough space to pass by comfortably and avoid having your day spoilt. That aside from the fact that you are never going to meet the other driver in the near future and it doesn’t hurt to be a courteous driver. This is what got me thinking that by being a bit courteous I actually make a one second friend.

Like the definition of a friend states that a friend is one who you know well and trust, my one minute friends are fellow drivers who I know well and trust to do the right thing so as to pass by without any incidents. So the next time you pass by another car do the right thing and if possible do something that you think is the best possible solution in the given situation without aggravating the other and you too have gained yourself a new ONE SECOND FRIEND…