True Friends Vs Fair Weather Friends

Earlier, I mentioned the malaise of association with bad “company”, the fair weather friends and its impact on our mental health and day to day dealings – the dealings with Toxic People.

Also, the impact of good company – true friends, well-wishers, who stand with us in good stead, good times or bad.

As I was thinking about it, I was recollecting a series of poems called Moodhurai (மூதுரை) that i learnt in my early childhood from the legendary poetess Avvaiyaar (Tamil: ஔவையார்; literally means ‘Respectable Woman’).

Avvaiyaar Statue, Marina Beach, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India

In it contained a gem, the fourth stanza, that beautifully explains whom to make friends and whom not to! What is true friendship and what is not! Here it is:

It is so poetic and rhythmic that it cannot be translated in any other language to convey the exact meaning. Only equivalent meaning can be made out of it. It goes like this:

1. How much ever one interacts with people of low moral values and try to befriend them, they will never become friends.
2. People of good ethics and moral values always behave in a dignified manner even when their status/position goes down or suffer from extreme poverty.
3. Like the milk that never loses its taste even after boiling it continuously.
4. Like the conch shell that becomes more and more whiter even continuously burnt by fire, true friendship stands the test of time.