The bunch of 10-12 year old kids watched with wide open eyes as the guide put his hand inside the bars of the cage and petted the leopard inside it!! They were scared.... and amazed at the same time. The leopard was behaving as if he was a pet dog!!
The guy (let’s call him Mr. X) turned to the kids and said that it was a wild leopard and none of them should even think of doing what he just did. "He will bite your hand right off!!", he said. The kids gasped!! And Mr. X only smiled. He could see it written in their eyes. They were seeking an explanation, and he was about to tell them one of the biggest truths of life.
“This leopard was badly injured and rejected by his peers when we found him. He was in a bad shape, and everyone thought that he might not live. But, I decided to do something about it. I gave all that I could to the poor animal...medical attention, care, companionship and love. Yes, Love. I gave it to him at a time when he needed it the most. I cared for him when he was down and out, and had lost the desire to live. At first there was not much improvement. But then slowly, he started responding!! He healed and was back to being the ferocious wild animal that he was.” Mr. X said with a smile on his face. “But there was one big difference. He knew who had been there for him in the times when he was down and out. And he remembers that. And that is the reason why he lets me pet him, because he acknowledges the fact that I was there for him when he needed it the most.” His grin grew bigger, and the kids eyes even bigger!!
And one of the kids in that group started a blog called ‘Spring Blossoms’, much later in his life. Me.J
That incident left a life-long impression in my mind, and a lesson I need to remember, but forget repeatedly. The love given by a friend in times of need has the power to tame even a wild animal, leave alone the supposed civilized humans. At times, I forget this while figuring out who my 'friends' are and who are 'the others'.
We might have many ‘friends’, but we fail to realize the difference between friends and acquaintances. The ones, who are there for you when you need them, when you are down and out, are the Friends. The rest, you might want to call them acquaintances or something else, but definitely not friends. I had learnt an important lesson that day – “Be there for your friends, and value those who are there for you when you need them, with your life.”
THANK YOU ALL MY WONDERFUL FRIENDS. YOU ARE MY ANGELS. J (I need not name anyone, because you know it. J)
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17 comments:
I'm FIRST!!! Yippie!!!
Pehle tto tu apni galat fehmi door kar le. You are ALWAYS there for your friends. You and I both know it. Period. Fake modest mat dikha. :P
And awwwwwwwwww!!!! you are truly a sweet heart!!!
And dude!! I had totally forgotten how b'ful your blog template is!! Post more often!!!
*Hugs*
@ Isha -
Oh yes FIRST!! :) :)
And I was actually trying to point out the fact that i forget this lesson and go soft while trying to figure out who my friends are, and start depending too much, when i should not. My bad. I've corrected it in the post. :)
And whether, I'm there or not for my friends. Well.. I try to do so as far as possible, and sometimes even beyond (at the cost of their irritation!).
You are no less!! :) Such a sweet and prompt comment!! :)
Mera template accha hai na??! :) :) .. Will try to blog more. :)
*Hugs*
You totally should!!!!
And, ab main lallu lagungi for the comment I made....ha ha...now that you have changed it. :P Lol
Yes, I agree you should never ever depend on one person so much so that if the person is not there, you fall apart.
Cheers
Ye "at the cost of their irritation" ka reason main toh nahi? :P
I just need space sometimes but like Isha has already said, you are ALWAYS there and so shall I.
End of Story.
Lovely :)
nice one bro, many times we realise that we are worse than animals, dont we?
I have a slightly different take on this though. I dont belive in friendship. Cos we are himans after all. however i belive in God's angels who are sent to us at different times to make our life beautiful.
Amazing post!!! I really liked it!And, well written, ofcourse!
@ Isha - nai lagegi.. I have mentioned it in my comment, that i changed it later. :) Don't worry.
I agree to what you said, and I'm trying to work on that front. :)
Cheers!!
@ Jill - Nope!! Its not you. Its just a general observation that i have about myself. :)
Thanks a lot. :) Really! :)
@ Sumeet - Thank you so much!! You first comment on my blog. Welcome!! :)
@ Judilson -
Worse than animals?? Well, we are also animals of sorts, only ones with 'supposedly more developed brains', which we use sometimes to construct, and at other times, to destruct.
But, you need to believe in friendship dude. We are social beings, and need friends. They may not be many in number, but you need to have at least 2-3 people who can take any crap from you and still give you the right advice. I believe that this is imperative for happiness. And these select few are 'My Angels'. :)
@ Netika - Thank you so much!! :) Really appreciate it. :)
Nicely penned down. I like :) :) :)
.. aam.. Talking about friends and having *soo many of them*.. I had a some things that I noted and I wanna share em with you. Do you know that the Oxford word of the year is *Unfriend* (to remove someone off a Social Network like FB)
-1- If you are on Facebook, how many friends do you have?
-2- What is the difference between a friend and an acquaintance?
-3- Compare "friend" to "comrade (in arms)". Comrades have a reason, perhaps even a life and death reason, to associate. Why do "friends" associate?
-4- Do friendships, just like "emotional relationship" but perhaps to a lesser degree, require "work"?
-5- What is the difference between a Facebook friend and a "real" friend?
-6- What is a "real" friend?
Answering all of this, i believe, would be a lot of work for you.. But I'd be glad if you could do that.. rather if anyone could do that :D
Heyy Karan :-) !!
Very nice piece of writing !! U have described abt the friendship btw the man & Leopard so beautifully !! And good to know u love ur human friends so much !!
Keep writing !!
@ Gugs -
I'm glad that you liked the post. :) I'm writing a new post to reply to your questions. :)
@ Kn - Thanks a lot for your lavish praise and I'm glad that you liked it! I was off blogging for a long time, and I hope that this is me coming back to it. :)
I apologize for the delay in replying to your beautiful comment...
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