Srinagar, Oct. 17 -- One of the hardest truths life teaches is how differently people can treat you once they no longer need anything from you. As long as you are useful, influential, entertaining, successful, or capable of opening doors, people often find reasons to stay close. But usefulness is a fragile foundation for any relationship. The moment it disappears; many connections reveal what they were built on all along.

That is why I have grown cautious about the labels we give people. We call them friends, contacts, networks, and connections, as though proximity itself proves loyalty. Yet life has a way of testing every relationship. The people who sit with you when life is comfortable are not always the ones who will sit beside your ...