Friendship: Four types of.....

An eye opening scene from the book The Fifth Dimension.

An important day was over. The day that Sameer had waited eagerly for. The day was one of success for him. 

Sameer decided to celebrate. To party. With only his nearest and dearest friends. Suddenly, he realized that there were only two members who belong to this category. . .

It was 2008, Sameer was nearing 29. He now was a doctor; an internal medicine specialist in a corporate hospital. He probably interacted with fifty different people each day, many of whom were daily acquaintances. He probably had 300 plus friends on Facebook as well.

But whom would he call his best pals? Best friends with whom he could share everything with? Who knew him as much as much he knew himself? Only two people.

He knew them both since the latter part of the 1980s, his early school days.


How many of us fall into this category? We seem to have so many friends everywhere.... but how many of us have to really think when it comes to naming our 'real' best friends?

Friends, as I now believe, could be categorized into:

1. Best friends: (not your party and pub type pals). Friends who will be present everywhere in times of celebration and in times of gloom, and for whom you would be present at the same instances in his or her life.

2. Social friends and party bum chums.: They are the pals to be had fun with. More in number.

3. Professional friends. Many more in number. You probably would have them over for dinner also some times.

4. Old friends lost in the virtual social networks scene only. : Hundreds.... (remember those good days? we used to have great fun? ...where did you say you stay nowadays?)

Please let me know the numbers of people who fall in the first category in your life... I wanna know the average number as a statistic.