I don't discriminate between a boy and girl when it comes to

Hear the words of Pooja Bedi, a woman of grace and courage, who once declared: “I don’t discriminate between a boy and girl when it comes to friendship.” Though spoken in modern times, her words carry the echo of an ancient truth — that the spirit of friendship transcends form, gender, and boundary. In this simple statement lies a deep wisdom: that the heart, when pure, knows no divisions; that love, when honest, does not ask whether the hand that reaches out belongs to a man or a woman, but only whether it is extended in sincerity.

Pooja Bedi, an actress and public figure, has lived a life of independence and self-expression, often speaking boldly on matters of equality and human connection. Her words are not the rhetoric of ideology but the reflection of experience — a voice forged in the awareness that to love or befriend without prejudice is one of the highest acts of human maturity. When she says she does not discriminate, she speaks against a world that too often draws lines where none should exist: between men and women, between love and companionship, between affection and fear. She invites us to rise above these false separations and to see friendship as it truly is — the meeting of souls.

The ancients themselves honored this idea, though their world was bound by hierarchy and custom. Plato, in his dialogues, spoke of friendship as a divine force that joins souls in pursuit of truth. To him, the essence of friendship was not in gender, beauty, or status, but in virtue — in the mutual recognition of goodness. The one who sees another’s soul clearly does not ask whether that soul belongs to a man or a woman; they only ask whether it strives toward what is noble. In this, Pooja Bedi’s words echo that same Platonic spirit: friendship, when true, is not born of the body but of the spirit.

Consider also the friendship between Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan, a bond that changed the course of history. Helen, blind and deaf, lived in a world of silence and shadow, but through Anne’s patience and love, she learned not only to communicate but to flourish. Theirs was a friendship that defied convention — one woman guiding another through darkness into light. Their connection knew no boundaries of gender or status; it was the friendship of equals, founded on trust, perseverance, and the sacred act of understanding. Through them, we see that friendship is the most human of miracles — the ability of one soul to awaken another.

When Pooja Bedi speaks of friendship without discrimination, she is also challenging the fears and assumptions that society imposes upon such relationships. Too often, men and women are taught to see one another through the narrow lenses of desire or distance, forgetting that companionship need not be defined by either. She reminds us that friendship — pure and radiant — is one of the few spaces where the human heart can breathe freely. It is an art of equality, where both the masculine and feminine meet in mutual respect. In such friendship, there is no domination, no competition — only the exchange of light, of wisdom, and of laughter.

There is great strength in such openness. To embrace friendship without bias is to see the divine in every face. It is to say: I will meet you not as man or woman, but as fellow traveler on the road of life. In that moment, the barriers of gender dissolve, and what remains is humanity — vulnerable, noble, and infinite. Those who live by this truth carry peace within them, for they do not measure affection by difference, but by depth.

The lesson, then, is both simple and profound: let friendship be guided by the heart, not by the world’s divisions. Seek companions who inspire goodness, regardless of their form. Do not let fear or prejudice cloud the joy of human connection. Treat every soul as worthy of your kindness and every hand as capable of friendship. For when you befriend without judgment, you honor the divine equality that lives within all beings.

So, dear listener, remember the wisdom of Pooja Bedi: the truest friendships are not born of similarity, but of sincerity. Whether between a boy and girl, man and woman, or any two souls who meet with open hearts — friendship remains the same sacred bond, the bridge between loneliness and belonging. Cherish it, nurture it, and defend it against the smallness of the world. For in the end, friendship — untainted by bias — is not only the heart’s most honest creation, but also humanity’s most enduring victory.