Written by Aashmika Leekha & Edited by Divyanshi Srivastava
Pyaar kya hai?
Pyaar dosti hai!
Shah Rukh Khan said it best, “Love is Friendship.” The more I think about it, the more I see it in the people around me. Love isn’t just about grand gestures or once-in-a-lifetime moments; it’s woven into the simplest things, the little details, the ways we care for each other, the unspoken gestures, the quiet reassurances. When I think about love, I think about my friends, the people I call my own.
I feel the love in the way they send a “Text me when you get home,” even when we part ways in the afternoon. It’s in the shared hair ties, the borrowed lip gloss, the “Do you want a bite?” before taking one themselves. It’s in the way they squeeze my hand under the table when they know I’m anxious, or the way they tilt their head when I’m ranting, listening as if every word matters.
Love is in the playlists made just because “these songs reminded me of you”. It’s in the way they know exactly how I take my coffee, what shade of pink makes me feel pretty, and which childhood stories I can never get through without tearing up. It’s in the way we fix each other’s eyeliner in bathroom mirrors; in the way we say “I love you” without actually saying it. It’s in everyday moments, the shared glances, the inside jokes, the comfortable silences.
I see it in the way my friends talk, in how their voices change with their moods. The excited rambling when they can’t contain their joy, the pauses when they search for the right words, and the stutter when they’re nervous. Every tone, every inflection, every unspoken word tells a story, and I love listening to it all. It’s in the way they sigh dramatically when life feels too much. I feel it with the loud ones who fill a room with their presence, and the quiet ones who say a thousand things without speaking.
I see it in their smiles – bright, radiant, sometimes subtle, sometimes wide enough to light up a whole room. The ones that come with laughter, the ones that sneak up in the middle of a conversation, the ones they try to hide but can’t quite manage to, the tired smiles that say, “I’ve had a long day, but I’m here with you, and that makes it better.” Their carefree giggles, the full-bodied cackles, the snorts they try to suppress – it all spreads like wildfire, pulling me into a happiness I didn’t even realize I needed. It’s in the way they throw their heads back, in the way their shoulders shake, in the way they clutch their stomachs when they just can’t stop. If love had a sound, maybe it would be this.
But love isn’t just in the joy, it’s in the heavy moments too. It’s in their silence, in their sighs, in the way they reach out, not always with words, but with their presence. It’s in the way they sit beside me on a bad day, offering nothing but quiet understanding. It’s in the way they check in, sending a “Did you eat?” or a “Take care” message. Love is in the loud declarations, yes, but also in these soft, everyday acts of care.
The loud friends, the quiet ones, the ones who express themselves through words, and the ones who simply show up—all love in their ways. Because love isn’t just a feeling, it’s a presence, a comfort, a knowing. It’s the simple truth that no matter how hard life gets, no matter how much we change, we are always there for each other.
Love is in the little things, and I feel it in all the people I call my own.
