e-magazine

Friend {ship} Special

Editor's Desk

Friendship in the era of Social Networking!

In this era of social networking, everyone tout to be a friend of everyone! The word "Friend" and "Friendship" is used to describe any relationship from an acquaintance to a soulmate. Usually, a friend is considered to be a person you know well and regard with affection and trust, but today a person you met at the train station friends you on the Facebook or links you on the Linked In. So, how do you define these relationships? In the book, Rethinking Friendship: Hidden Solidarities, authors Liz Spencer and Ray Pahl, define the modern day relationship into 8 types - Associates (people with whom we share common activity like hobby or sport), Useful contacts (people who we share or seek information/advice for work/career), Favor friends (people who help us functionally), Fun Friends (people who we socialize for fun), Helpmates (Someone who is a favor friend and fun friend), Comforters (Helpmate who provide emotional support), Confidants (Someone to whom who we share personal information. Need not be a helpmate or a comforter), Soulmate (Someone who displays most of the above qualities). Probably you can use this as a scale to categorize the thousands of the so called friends on your social network.

In the Indian epic Mahabharata, Bhisma (Grand uncle of Pandavas and Kauravas) shares his wisdom about friends to Yudhistra (the Pandava King). According to him friendship can be categorized into 5 types - Natural friends (people who share a similar thinking like you), Legacy friends (people who are offsprings of your established family-friends), Partners (people to whom you maintain a relationship for a mutual benefit), Contrived Friends (people who are following you because of the gains you are providing them) and Dharmatma (the righteous soul - people who do not belong to any of the above category but still acts in the best interest of you). As you might have guessed, it is hard to find a Dharmatma. As Dharmatmas are not reliant on a friendly relationship to make gains, they are too busy managing their own world. So, you really need to search them! They are not the people who are going to nod when you nod or change when you change but going to act righteously all the time. More importantly, they will expect the same righteousness from you. Are you righteous enough to seek a righteous friend? Thoughts to ponder!

As Oprah Winfrey said, "Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down." So choose your friends wisely and manage your relationship carefully!

In this edition, we have hand picked contents on Friends and Friendship. In the health section we have covered information on Pain and its management. In addition we have provided some interesting facts about Lighthouses when they are becoming more and more outdated in this technology driven GPS world. Read, enjoy and share with your network!

• In the Brain-tickler category:
  • Famous Friends: Match these popular friendly pairs!
• In the Health Topic section:
  • Learn about Pain and its management in the article "Perturbing Pains:Let us talk about pain"
  • Learn more about Painkiller and Angina in the article- "Can you feel my pain?"
• In the English Song category:
  • Listen to our Friend(ly) English song Picks.
  • Listen to the picked songs continuously with our Jukebox!
• In the Seriously Funny section:
  • Watch the clip - "Kargo Kids"
  • Read the humor, "I am in the army too!"
  • Read the humor, "Money, Money, Money: A friendly letter!"
• In the Surfboard section:
  • Read the thought "The power of a friend ..."
• In the Tamil Picks section:
  • Enjoy the 10 Tamil songs picked out of 25 songs we reviewed for 'Tamil Songs: Friend(ly) (Nanban, Thozhan, Natpu) picks.
  • new Anniversary Special: Enjoy the video picks continuously, on-demand in our new video channel.
  • Listen to the 25 best songs for 'Tamil Songs: Friend(ly) (Nanban, Thozhan, Natpu) theme.
  • Read the poem pick "Natpu' in the Tamil poem section.
• In the Recipe Spot section:
  • Learn how to make "Gobi Manchurian" at home.
• Nuggets:
  • Don't miss to reflect on the thought and humor nuggets.
    - "Where money won't go ..."- in Editor's desk section
    - "Pleasure and Pain" and "Pain can be endured or defeated...." - in Health section
    - "Unhappy marriages" - in Surfboard section
    - "Not a good friend at all ..."- in Reader's footprint section
    - "A friend to all?" - in Your feedback section
    
• Get Inspired by watching the video "What do you want to do with your future?".

As always, we are very confident that you will enjoy our picks. Write your feedback about this issue by clicking on the email icon. We value your opinion, thoughts and time.

Where money won't go ...

Image credit:ehow.com

"Friends and good manners will carry you where money won't go." - Margaret Walker

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