A tribute to friendships

Friendships are complex creatures. They’re the most precious equations we share having handpicked and nurtured them at will.

They offer escape and companionship. There’s nothing better than sharing a laugh or remembering old times with a good friend. They break barriers and provide validation and free therapy. They exist as prevalently online as they do offline. Yes, a Facebook ‘like’ and mutually shared emoticons constitute a friendship today. It can be that easy to sustain a friendship.

On the other hand they are fragile and impressionable as we cruise through life at difference paces and mostly opposite paths.

They are expected to survive anything and everything at any given moment: living together, working together, sharing similar dreams, taking a life partner, starting our own families, sharing mutual friends, long distance - the dynamic is constantly changing.

They inevitably play second fiddle to romantic relationships and family yet are expected to withstand the tide of time, loyal and forgiving.

They are forever compared to friendships of yesteryears despite breathing and existing in a dramatically different social landscape.

Unlike relationships, there aren't enough fish in the sea. I wouldn't say that quality friendships are a dying breed but they’re definitely a scare resource.

To call or not to call

I can't remember the last time I picked up the phone to call someone to have a chat for the sake of having a chat (immediate family excluded) . It's not that I don't care or that I can't spare a moment - I'm just not a phone person.

Gone are the days when I rushed home from school to call the same friends I had just spent all day with, or called a friend after a week of lectures and workshops at university. What also seems like an distant memory are Skype calls with fellow intern friends.

I realize more and more that this is a counter effect of having been a Londoner making it on my own for almost 5 years. Crammed London Underground, packed stations and tourists galore, I feasted on the silence of my home. I don't know if I'm turning into a recluse yet as I thoroughly enjoy the company of loved ones, but just the thought of putting a phone against my ear after a busy and tiring day exhausts me.

Then there's small talk. I'm not a fan. Some people can indulge in small talk and random chatter for hours on end. Who has the time?!

That brings me to Whatsapp. I love Whatsapp. It gives me a socially acceptable platform to connect and make plans to socialize without subjecting me to tiresome small talk. I fully appreciate we call each other with every good intention and I do enjoy a good 'quality' phone catch up every now and again but it seems my ears have a lower threshold than most:)

Of course if Hugh Jackman were to call asking for me, you know nothing.

Toilet paper - yes, toilet paper! Read on.

I haven’t blogged in a while and it’s mostly because 1. Nothing provoked me enough to write about that wouldn’t offend and 2. I couldn’t be arsed. However, that moment finally came.

On a regular Monday afternoon …

Someone questioned prayer rooms in the workplace implying they could be better used as storage rooms. I replied that actually it’s quite normal to have prayer rooms in the workplace especially in countries with a considerable Muslim population.

This lead to a very brief but highly surprising  conversation. It went something like this. "Did you know people don’t use toilet paper in Muslim countries?" My instant reaction (in my I’m-not-really-religious-but-you-just-offended-me defensive tone) was that Muslims are in fact freakishly clean when it comes to “that area” and always use water AND toilet paper thank you very much. I added that if one were to visit any Muslim country, both facilities would be available starting at the airport.

To my what I thought was a compelling argument, the response was “Apparently the really fanatic fundamental Muslims don’t use toilet paper and keep a jug with them”, hand gesturing an invisible jug. (Meanwhile I am LAUGHING at the absurdness of this conversation in my head) They went on to add “It’s probably just in villages”.

In just a few seconds this usually perfectly lovely person had without realising demonstrated a completely inward and uninformed view of the world and reminded me that even the most brilliant and compassionate can be utterly ignorant.

On the other side of the world ... 

Some Muslims are having a conversation about how dirty "white people" are for using ONLY toilet paper in the bathroom.