My thoughts about neighbors

Humans are social beings, and naturally, they cannot live alone. It doesn't matter how much one tries to live alone, it's nearly impossible in the long term. As humans, we need to live in a society, and there are neighbors beside us. Neighbors are those who live in a place near us. Most of the time, neighbors are the ones who can offer us a helping hand during the time of emergency. I stayed in different places for various purposes, and naturally, I met various types of neighbors in my life, and today I am going to share about them.

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I spent the first 12 years of my life in a village, and I stayed there with my parents. In the village, almost all the neighbors were very friendly, and I feel the connection between the village neighbors is something magical and powerful. I haven't seen such a strong bond in other places, especially in city life. In the village, neighbors are mostly like family members, and whenever there was a function, they used to come to our home and offer a helping hand in the arrangement of the function. In the afternoon time there used to be a conversation (I call it gossiping) between neighbors. It was like getting all the information from there without spending too much time, and I don't know how it was possible to talk about so many things. It was like people could spend the whole day by talking even without having any specific topic. I feel the bond there was so strong, which sometimes gave the feeling that neighbors were even closer to us compared to our relatives. The elders of neighbors used to care about me, and at the same time, they were allowed to scold me if I did anything wrong. When I was little, I didn't take it positively, as it doesn't feel good to be scolded by someone who doesn't belong to the family. But now I think it was not bad because they did it for my good. Now, one thing I miss about the village neighbors is their cooking. Whenever they cooked something delicious, they used to share it with us, and it was the same for my family.

For educational purposes, I went to one of my distant relative's houses in the city. There are 40 families in the building. Fortunately, I made a few friends there with whom I had some good moments. Although I made a few friends there, the neighbors are not as friendly as in the village. People are used to minding their own business. They are not interested in what's going on in others families. I could see those neighbors together during the time of the earthquake, as everyone used to come outside at the same time. It sounds funny, but it was the reality. People in the city were very busy, and they didn't have time to think about others.

When I was admitted to university, I stayed in a mess (hostel type). In there, the neighbors were also students like us. The connection between the neighbors was quite good. Whenever we met outside, we used to talk a little bit at least, and they were very friendly to get along with. Although we didn't visit each other's flats often, we used to watch cricket and football matches together because we felt that enjoying football and cricket matches with more people gave a better feeling compared to watching alone. We used to share various types of online food offers and so many things. Somehow, I can categorize the relationship between them and me as a good one.

And at last I am here in my current flat, and I have been here for 5 years. In the first 2.5 years, I had no knowledge of who my neighbors were, and I didn't care about it either. I thought it's better to mind my own business. But 2.5 years ago, my father returned from abroad, and he is an extroverted person. His networking skill is just amazing. In the 2.5 years, he became friendly with most of the people in the buildings. Almost everyone knows him, and now most of the people here know me because of my father. So, naturally, whenever I go outside, I need to go through a small conversation with everyone. It's good to stay connected with many people, but to be honest, I don't like it right now because I really don't want to spend too much time on them. I cannot ignore them, but I don't want to spend my time having conversations with them either, especially with those who ask me some questions that I don't want to answer, even if those are not personal, as it gives me the feeling that I am giving an update about myself to them.