A Pen Friend

Although I have many friends within the country, but I have always wished to cultivate a friend in a foreign country. The other day I was going through a magazine and came across the addresses of many children from the world over who were desirous to make pen friends. I looked for the name and the country that I liked. I wanted a pen friend in the United States of America as I found the culture of that country very different from ours. At last I found the address of Mary who lives in San Francisco. She is Fifteen Years' old and is the daughter of two doctors. Her parents love her dearly as she is the only-child. She wrote to me as soon as she received my first letter and I was very touched by her warmth and friendliness. Mary loves America a lot. She had never heard much about India and she always expresses her surprise when she realizes how advanced India has become. Otherwise people have a very poor impression about our country - a backward, primitive country. I try to give her an objective and unbiased view of my country and her people and she does the same. The result of this honest sharing has been the growth of a greater understanding of the culture and even of Mary herself. I realize that she is a sensitive and loving person. She is extremely lovely to. As she is the only child she writes to me about all her problems and I do the same. We give each other a lot of support although we live so far from each other. Pen friends are a lot of fun apart from being our confidants. They help to educate us and we find ourselves growing into persons whose horizons are as large as the world