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Yet another day?
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The first Sunday of every August is traditionally celebrated as Friendship Day. A ritual that apparently goes back to 1935, when the U.S. Congress designated the day to be remembered as Friendship Day. But it's only in the last three or four years that we have begun celebrating the day in India, with bands, greeting cards and get-togethers. What is the point of a designated day to celebrate friendship? Is it a creation by the greeting cards industry or a special way to remember friends? HEMANGINI GUPTA asks people what, if anything, Friendship Day means to them.
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The industry also comes up with cards and cutsie-pie things to celebrate Friendship Day. -- Photos: K. Murali Kumar
Friendship Day is one day when people can come together since they're usually too busy to meet. Even with friends from school, I usually keep in touch only through SMSs. If you're asking why celebrate the day, then you can ask why do we celebrate birthdays or Valentines Day: these are just special days. This Friendship Day in fact, we all exchanged friendship bands and we all met at Coffee Day.
Tabassum Sharief, college student
Right now it's only the age group below 35 which really celebrates Friendship Day; it's a generation thing. In a year or two, this will change.
Just as older couples have begun celebrating Valentines Day now, they will also start celebrating Friendship Day soon as it becomes more popular.
Vivek Chandiramani, Archies store proprietor
In France, every year you have new feasts: there's a Mother's feast, a Father's feast, a Grandmother's feast and now there are some 100 feasts, and anniversaries for everything as well. I don't like shops celebrating something important, and using it to sell things and make money.
I like feasts with a stronger and deeper tradition, and personally I don't celebrate all the newer ones, just Christmas.
Claire Melanie Sinnhuber, tourist
I honestly didn't even know it was Friendship Day. All this is just a way to sell greeting cards. Each day they try to sell cards with a new occasion.
It's a good idea to have a specific day for this, but if you feel someone's a good friend, you can tell them anytime. In fact with really good friends, there's no need to even tell them. All these are just formalities.
Manish Panda, executive
It's a special day when you can tell your friend why they are special. I did celebrate it, and although you don't need to give flowers or cards, I did give bands to 10 friends. In school, it's compulsory to give things, because you see other people do it and you feel you should do it too. But sometimes if you're a true friend, you don't have to give anything.
Ankita Singh, school student
I'm still buying things to give my friends, because we are planning a meeting soon as we could not meet on Sunday. We spend a lot of time together in each other's houses so really it's like everyday is Friendship Day, there's nothing special about any one particular day.
Prashant, engineering student
If I was a bachelor I might have celebrated the day, but now that I'm married I spent it at home with my wife. I gave her a friendship band and we cooked at home together. Friendship Day is not just for friends but also the family.
Eugene Walsh, Coffee Day manager
It's too childish now. When I was in P.U., I used to meet friends for coffee, and we used to exchange bands, but I don't anymore. It's just a greeting cards industry invention from the last couple of years. It was not there when I was in school.
Michelle Nelson, college student
I only came to know about Friendship Day through SMS. People started sending messages days in advance and we couldn't reply them on the 1st because all the cellular connections were jammed. I don't believe in celebrating these days. I don't even celebrate my birthday, and all my friends are like me; we don't believe in all this.
Rahchand R., professional
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