In general, not your friends, relatives, extended family or for that matter even your to-be-spouse will have the fortune of staying near you. This privilege is held only by your neighbors. Neighbors are the first ones to know when your kid got a new bicycle, you got a new refrigerator or even a car. Neighbors bear with you when your teenager plays loud music, your guests flood the common lobby, your house is undergoing renovation, or when you struggle to open the main door returning from late night parties.
When you suddenly need a little of that Masala, or a measurement tape, or a candle, or some extra chairs for your guests, or drinking water when your filter broke in all such cases your neighbors come to the rescue. When there is loss of a family member, neighbors are the first moral support you get to deal with the crisis emotionally and physically. By standing shoulder to shoulder with you, they not only lighten your burden but also help you with the rituals and even serve water & tea to the visitors who come for condolences.
When you go for vacation, you trust your neighbors with the house keys, knowing well that if something happens, they will look after your house. And when you return from the trip how exciting it is to share the sweets and travel stories with them. Throughout the year we celebrate with them by exchanging sweets on Sankranti, splashing each other with water & colors on Holi, cooking & sharing special dishes on Chetichand/Gudi Padwa, lighting diyas & firecrackers together on Diwali, etc. The sheer joy of dressing up, celebrating festivals and taking selfies is incomplete if not shared with neighbors.
They are the ones with whom you physically share the same living space, come together as a community and support each other during various events in Life.
Even after all this it so happens that neighbors are not aware of many intimate things in our life, meanwhile sharing other huge part of our life. But if your neighbors are with you even in the other dimensions of your life, then God has blessed you with the rare fortune. In villages it might still exist but in cities, this was there only till two or three decades ago that neighbors had a much more intimate and important bond with each other. Where they were the lifeline support for each other during good and bad times in life. Without a blood relation, a binding contract or an agreement what neighbors do for each other is what really makes us Human.
Please tell us about your relations with your Neighbors in the comments. Thank You.
