Envy-Not Me !

"Whenever a friend suceeds, a little something in me dies."
- Gore Vidal

I have to disagree.

When my friend told me she had gotten a job I was happy for her.

In fact , I was overjoyed.

I wanted to hug and congratulate her.
Realizing that such a gesture would not be appropriate and may not be tolerated (I might actually get slapped !) , I settled for a vigorous handshake sprinkled profusely with blabbering words of congratulations.

But I was so happy for her, that it wasn't enough for me...So I had to satisfy myself with another round of vigorous handshake-ala-congrats.
( She didn't share my enthusiasm though...for her it was a mixture of fear , nervousness apprehension, uncertainity  and elation which is normal for a first timer like her )

                         I've got another friend who I consider one of best friends who I think is already very successful.He will soon be out of India's most prestigious institution , and he will be big as they all predict, even bigger I hope.
I'm damn proud to be his friend.


To me , both are successful in their own rights...equally so , even though they might be far apart by a more worldly standard of measuring success.

Strangely I've never felt jealous of them...Their success hasn't come in between our friendship.

In fact I admire them and respect them in my own small and insignificant way.

There are other people who I'm proud to be associated with too(including you ,my dear reader )...but today I'd like to end here , saying that envy was never a problem, never will be.

Rather , I'm strutting proudly even though I had no part in their success.