Nepal: Friendship Day Only for Urbanities!

"What is a friend ? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." It is a famous quote of Aristotle.

Konal Singhaniya, 18 of Kathmandu didn't use the Aristotle's quote this year to celebrate the Friendship day on August 6. "No, I used that quote last year, so I changed the quote this year and posted the Epicurus's quote to my beloved friends" Singhaniya told. Epicurus quotes, "Of all the things which wisdom provides to make life entirely happy, much the greatest is the possession of friendship."

Singhaniya further added that his friend Nitu Sharma replied him by sending the Euripides's quote: "One loyal friend is worth ten thousand relatives." I met Singhaniya with his more than 15 friends at Nanglo Bakery Cafe in Durbar Marg, main business hub of Kathmandu.

Among the Singhaniya and his friends, Kathmanduties ( residents of Kathmandu), particularly the youngsters thronged the pubs, clubs, coffee shops, restaurants and parks in the city, gifting yellow roses, chocolates and greeting cards to their loved ones, expressing their friendship. Most of the youngsters, whom I met throughout the day, said that they wished the day to their friends by sending SMS in the early morning.

Friendship day, which started during 1935 in America, have almost spread to all corner of the globe, like many other western festivals and celebrations. Most of the urban people in Nepal are celebrating the day after Archies, the famous greeting cards manufacturer, introduced 'Friendship Day' for the first time in the neighbouring country India in 1995.

Friendship is the platform of all relationships - be it a friend to friend, mother to daughter or a husband to wife relation. No one in this world can claim lack of friendship in their lives. International Friendship Day, the first Sunday of the August has had a significance value of friendship.

"Friends are like angels in our life. So, why not make friendship-an already special relation more special by giving maximum priority to it and assigning a special day for it" Sangeeta Shrestha, 16 said adding that she invited three teenagers on Sunday to build up the relation of friends.

Most of the residents of the urban areas in Nepal celebrated the friendship day by different ways. Kids from Nursery to College levels enjoyed the Friendship Day in cities. But, Ram Bhadur Khadka of Ilam district in eastern Nepal has no idea about the day. Khadka, 24, who has been staying in Kathmandu for two months said to me : "What is Friendship Day?"

Among the youngsters, Rama Bhattarai of Tehrathum district, Binod Chand of Baitadi district, Ghanashyam Kuwar of Baglung, Nabin Rai of Khotang and Neelam BK of Kailali district shared that they couldn't understand what the Friendship Day was.

"We marked the traditional festivals like- Dashain, Tihar, Teej, Maghi but Friendship Day ? No", Rai said. "I have many friends in the villages but I didn't mark a day for them" According to him, none of the people from rural areas marked the day in their villages till the date. "We didn't observe the day."

Nepal is a landlocked country nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. It occupies an area of 147,181 square kilometers. It shares its northern border with the Tibetan Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China and its eastern, southern, and western borders with India. The population is approximately 23.2 million and half of them are females. Nepal is predominantly rural with only about 14% of the population living in urban areas (Central Bureau of Statistics, 2001).

Dr Niranjan Upadhyaya, of lecturer of a Kathmandu-based college said that the rural people unaware about the Friendship Day. " Wrongly, It seems only a fashion for the high-class family kids", he said adding that the message of the day should be publicized throughout the country. It might help to establish a friendship environment by curbing the enemies among the Nepalese people.

Friendship Day was celebrated in main cities like- Pokhara, Dharan, Nepalgunj, Biratnagar, Hetaunda, Bhairahawa, Mahendranagar, Birtamod, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kathmandu, Banepa, Dhulikhel and Janakpur among others.