New avatar Friendship Day

The celebrations this Sunday are virtual, and involve some unusual ideas

With the pandemic scare, Friendship Day will take a digital avatar this year.

This Sunday, young people will miss hanging out and tying friendship bands, but they are thinking of simple and creative ways to make their dear ones feel special.

Unique gifts

For Yogitha Jagadeesh, homemaker, Friendship Day is a pretext to meet her school friends.

“We are a gang of eight girls who have been friends for 22 years. We plan to bake a cake, and cut it on a video call. We have also ordered similar tops for ourselves and will be wearing them,” she says.

During the lockdown, Yogitha and her friends posed as characters from Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings for a collage. “We attempted to recreate the artist’s works and have made a single frame out, which we will print out for ourselves. It’s our gift to one another,” she says.

Priyanka U, biotech engineering
student, is making cupcakes
and sending them to her friends.

Bake cupcakes

Priyanka U, a biotech engineering student from BMS College of Engineering, is calling friends and recollecting special moments with them. She and her friends intend to send gifts to each other through Dunzo.

“I have a couple of school friends, a gang from college and some friends at the dance studio I go to. I picked up baking during the lockdown and I will be making some cupcakes and sending them to these friends,” she says.

Gaming online

Sonali Mukherji usually celebrates the day with her biker girl gang called ‘Firki Gals’.

“Every year, we head out from the city and enjoy a picnic nearby. This time, since we are indoors, we plan to cook something special for the day,” she says.

Sonali plans to play Housie with her friends and then have a dance party over Google meet.

Chaitra H N, software developer, and her gang from college days, Navyatha K P, Pooja Rao, Priyanka T S and Deepika Patil, have usually gone outdoors or celebrated the day at one of their places.

“Since neither is a possibility now, we will video call each other and play some games like Ludo and Skribble (a pictionary game) online,” she says. The group plans to end the day by dining together online.

Mamatha Bharadwaj, social entrepreneur, has three groups of friends — from school, college, and from Sri Krishna Gardens Layout, where she lives.

“My plans usually vary with the group I am with. If I am with my college gang, we go to a restaurant, exchange gifts and play some games at the table,” she says.

With a group she calls ‘Gopikas of Krishna Gardens’, her friends in the layout, she usually has a potluck dinner.

“This Sunday, we do a Zoom meeting and play some games like Tambola online and a movie-based quiz.”

Making a short film

Niranjan, Vignesh Aiyappa and Sukruth S Challa
at Ramadevara Betta after a ride in 2019.
The photo is a part of their short film

For Sukruth S Challa, an engineering student, Friendship Day always meant a ride together with friends. Since 2017, the 20-year-old has gone to Shivaganga hills, Lepakshi and Ramadevara Betta with them.

“My closest group of friends are from college. Most hail from places like Udupi and Kodagu, and a long ride is what brings us together,” he says.

This year, to celebrate their togetherness, Sukruth and his friends plan to create a short film with videos and photos from their past rides.

Dedicated online time

Even if the celebrations are low key, the day is an excellent excuse to celebrate friendship, says Kannada actor-director Arjun Kishore Chandra.

“I always turn to my friends before relatives, even in the toughest times. I love celebrating the special bond I have with my friends on this day, with an outing or dinner party,” he says.

Arjun plans to make some long calls to friends and wish everyone. “The whole day will be dedicated to them online, since this is the least I can do to say thanks for sticking around,” he says.