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A Pen-Friend

 Life is amusing. And by amusing, I mean very interesting. We meet people. Some, we befriend while some we just snub from our lives and wish that we could just obliviate the moment we met them. Let’s not talk about snubbing or discarding somebody. Let’s talk about the bond that we form with those that are close in our lives.

Now, I know that each and every one of us has somebody in our lives who we wish we’d never lose. I won’t label or tag those relations because I know some of them are just nameless and some of them are beyond any kind of denotation or categorization. I am also, going to talk about a nameless bond that I formed with someone recently.

In childhood, I’d come across this particular intriguing word called “Pen-friend”. I was amused, as how two people, without seeing or meeting each other even once in life, could become really good friends and bond for life (in many cases). At that time I passed it frivolously. But as time moved on and relationships became meaningful to me I gradually started comprehending the emotions that lied behind such an unknown, unseen relationship, if I may say. The thing is, making a pen-friend is as easy as writing a letter and stuffing it into a bottle and throwing it into the ocean and waiting till it finds another human. The feeling of sharing your emotion without the other person judging you is a blessing. But the gist of making, rather, having a pen-friend lies in preserving that relationship, staying true to your friend, respecting his/her feeling even though you have never met him/her once in your life. This preservation comes off as a reverberation of those feelings that you share and the emotions that you invest. The more investment, the more profound bond.

I never had a pen-friend until a few days ago when I joined a clan in the game “Clash of Clans”. To give you a brief background, “Clash of Clans” is a game in which you build your village, defend it and rally on other villages with your army. In the game, you can join a clan in order to make allies and confederate with other players. So I joined a small clan. There was this contemporary player “Hyper Nova” in the clan. We talked whenever both of us happened to be online at the same time. Donating, receiving troops was a common thing. We talked about taking our clan to great heights, making war strategies, etc. Gradually, observing no impending advancement or melioration, players started abandoning the clan leaving the clan gasping for players. At that time, I jokingly assured ‘Nova’ (that’s what I call him) that I won’t leave the clan as long as he was there. I mean, after all it was just a game. What’s the worst that could happen? But I stayed. For some reason, unknown, my conscience didn’t allow me to leave the clan. Was it for Nova? I don’t know.

So, we barely had 10 players. A few days later, two more left and Nova became hopeless. He said and I quote “War Hero (my gaming name), I am going to discontinue playing the game. After this war, please move to a better clan.” Again, for some reason unknown, that stung. I felt as if I was breaking someone’s heart. “Damn it! Why do I get so involved in everything?”, I cursed myself. Today he sent out a mail in the clan whose screenshot I have attached below.

 
And I felt that it was a matter of courtesy and that emotion must be reciprocated. And, here you go.


And I left the clan. We never met. But he became my friend. We never shared feelings or emotions. But we bonded over a game. Suddenly, he became one of those friends who I’d never want to lose. I don’t know how he is, in real life. Our ideologies might be vastly contrasting. He could be poles apart in any spectrum, but it didn’t matter here. We didn’t even know each other’s name. I want more of such unknown friends.

I really hope that we meet again, in the game and even in real life. Though that’s a different thing that we do not carry “Clash of Clan” tags pinned to our heads so maybe we’d never recognize each other.

So, that’s it. That was my little pen-friend experience. In conclusion, I’d like to add that the world is very small and life is too short. Do not waste it accumulating hatred irrespective if the reason or even the intensity for that matter. Just find yourself someone who’d just listen to you, would not judge you by the emotions or feelings that you foster even if he’s someone you have never met. Just write your heart out, stuff it in a bottle and toss it in the ocean and wait for someone to come across the bottle on the other end of the ocean and write his/her heart out in reply. And remember, preservation and nuturance are the keys.

 

“Go on now, my words. You must find someone who’d value you, disregarding the hand that wrote you.”

-Hrishikesh Purohit 

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