When friendship bands were all the rage

Remember when second Sunday of every August wasn’t just another day in the calendar but a day where our hands wouldn’t be enough to fit in all the friendship bands we exchanged in school. The thrill of carrying a packet of friendship bands to school on a Saturday, right before the actual day was as thrilling as having a chilled glass of Rasna on a lazy sunny afternoon.

Fond memories from Friendship's Day Meta

Friendship back in the days was paralleled with our hands brimming with these bands.  More the number of bands, the more popular a person was. The shapes and sizes of the bands however differed. Some were the old school bead bands, some made of rubber while some were even handmade, but the thread weaving them all, were the golden letters, ‘FRIENDS FOREVER.'

“I remember hiding the bands in my bag while the school checking went on, but after school, I was the one with the most bands on my wrist. It was something of a flex to be the one with hands full of those cute friendship bands. Ah! I miss those days,” said Vani Manchanda, a 22- year-old corporate worker.

While reminiscing about the school days, Vani talked about how the week before friendship’s day, stationary shops would be bustling with kids, lining up to buy the most stylish and fashionable friendship bands. Kids would have pockets brimming with these friendship bands and deciding worthy hands for these prized possessions was a colossal task. The snazzier bands were for the special ones, while the dreary looking ones were for friends who would seldom talk.

Kids in Manvi, Karnataka celebrating Friendship's Day Dattatraya Dutta

These bands reflected the unblemished innocence of our childhood, as a mere tangible and inanimate object such as a friendship band, bridged the bond of friendship. The unproblematic friendships back in the days were as simple as a breakfast of bread and butter. You had a chance to form a strong bond with others around you, by tying a mere cute band. But what would happen if you forgot to do so? A betrayal. Forgetting to tie a friendship band was nothing short of a sin, it is as good as unfollowing your best friend on Instagram.