Always in your best friend’s shadow?

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In the popular television show Gossip Girl, best friends Serena and Blair share all the ups and downs that life in the Upper East Side of New York throws at them. But while Blair has as much affection for Serena as the latter does, she also has to deal with another feeling that her tall, blonde friend inspires: Envy. While harbouring

negative feelings towards your best friend may seem paradoxical, the truth is that many teens do go through such an experience. For instance, many of their friends envy the bond that 19 year olds Sukanya Nair and Paulomi Sinha share. The two girls have been best friends for over 10 years and share virtually every secret. But one thing that Sukanya has never told Paulomi is that she sometimes has mixed feelings for her best friend. “Paulomi dresses very well. She’s also very pretty, self-confident and very sociable. So she gets a lot of attention wherever she goes. It can be a little difficult not to be noticed because there’s someone better right next to you,” says Sukanya.
Sukanya’s views are mirrored by TYBMM student Divya Iyer. “My friend Ishita and I were together in junior college. In fact, we even received admission to the same course in the UK. But I decided to stay back and complete my graduation here, while she went ahead. I was miserable when she first left, but then I started making more friends,” Divya recounts. “Simply because we were so close, we had never needed other friends. But now, I started to talk to more people and it broadened my experiences. It also helped me get over my feelings of inferiority compared to Ishita.”
Guys are not immune to the feeling either. Sixteen-year-old Saurabh P. says his friend Sumant’s quiet, studious nature has always been more appreciated among Saurabh’s family. “I’m always the one who is sent out of the lab for one reason or the other, but the teachers all like Sumant. My parents think I should be more like him. Once I beat him up because I got really bugged, but surprisingly, we are still friends,” he laughs.
Films like The Princess Diaries too have shown friends moving past their feelings of envy by confronting them head on. When Mia becomes a princess, her best friend Lily can’t handle the fact, but the two later resolve their differences. While things for real teens may not play out as smoothly, there is certainly reason to believe that they work through them.