Everyone has friends. There can be few or many friends, depending on how social you are. Friends are very important in life as you share your thoughts and feelings with them. You trust them and spend time with them, cracking jokes and having lots of fun.

The more friends you have, the less are the chances of depression. My parents always wanted that I should make friends who are well-mannered and belong to respectable families. This is the story of how I got a friend who completely changed my personality in a good way and I wish everyone should have a friend like I have.

When I was about four or five years of age, I had few friends with whom I would play cricket or spent time with. As time passed, some of my friends shifted to other places or to other countries. After a few months, most of us lost touch and forgot each other — that’s how the cycle of life goes.

As I turned nine, my dad asked me to join cricket coaching classes so that I would not get bored at home during summer vacation. I was very excited about it.

The coach welcomed me to the class and we had an orientation meeting where each member was introduced. There I made a friend, Atif, who was my age. His qualities and way of thinking were very inspirational to me; he always talked positively and encouraged me, and I often wondered how could he speak in such a mature way at this age? I instantly liked him.

With every passing day, our friendship grew. We shared snacks, our little secrets and helped each other in improving our cricket skills. After two months, our coaching classes ended and on the final day we had a closing ceremony. Both of us decided to meet again for cricket coaching the next year.

During this time I missed Atif very much and wished he was with me in my school or at least lived in the same locality. The year passed somehow.

The next year, we were together again in the cricket coaching classes. I was eager to improve my skills in cricket and my friendship. We both shared the interesting incidents and school activities that we experienced during the past year. So it was again an unforgettable time spent with my friend. When the coaching classes ended, I did not forget to take his phone number.

One day when I called Atif, I was so sad to know that he had shifted to some other place. ‘So this was an end to our friendship,’ I thought as I sighed. Thus, time passed and I made many new friends, but they were the careless, selfish and untrustworthy kind. I could not share my thoughts with them because whenever I said something, they would make fun of it.

I compromised and spent my time keeping to myself mostly as only a few months were left before school ended and college started. I got a smartphone and I made an account on a social media website where I searched for my ‘old best friend’ but I could not trace Atif. Whenever, I played cricket with my friends, I remembered the friend who inspired me.

Then it was my first day in a reputed college. We had an orientation session between students and teachers. There I saw someone who looked familiar but I didn’t remember meeting or knowing him. After the meeting, I went to him and we talked. I got to know that we belonged to same community and that his thoughts reminded me of my old best friend, Atif.

I had actually forgotten Atif’s face so I wasn’t sure if it was him. I started questioning him further and asked him if he had ever been to cricket coaching classes. Sure enough he had, and when I asked him his name, I knew it was Atif, my dear old friend! I hugged him immediately. I had at last met my best friend after all these years!

From then onwards, our friendship grew stronger; we shared our joys, sorrows and found solutions to each other problems. We helped each other in studies and played every sport together. Sometimes we also had fights but we always forgave each other. Atif is a true inspiration for me as he has completely changed my personality. And I am thankful to God that I have found a friend who has shown me what a real friend is!

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 25th, 2015