On #InternationalFriendshipDay Dipna Patel talks about her best friends Ashish Katara and Tanvika Patel!

Friendship means being there for your friend in good and bad times, says #DipnaPatel on the occasion of International Friendship Day. The #Shubharambh actor shares that a true friend helps one become better human beings.

“As we grow and evolve our friends change and most of the times it’s for the better. I would like to mention my best friend from college Ashish Katara here. He was my senior and has been a rock solid support towards my dreams. In high school, I was a part of an unhealthy friend circle and there was negative peer pressure and that affected my confidence. After my entry into NIFT, Gandhinagar, everything changed for the better. Our friendship started when Ashish along with some other seniors were ragging us juniors. It was a healthy and fun sort of ragging,” she reveals.

Dipna shares that her best friends, Ashish and Tanvika Patel, understood her really well.
“I had a hidden dream that my parents also didn’t have an idea about and that was to apply for Miss India pageant. Tanvika and Ashish are two friends who really believed in my potential when no one did. I still remember, while studying, I decided to try for the ‘Miss India’ pageant but I knew I needed to work on my grooming and communication to stand at par with other girls. So one day I decided to go to Mumbai to meet a pageant coach and get a portfolio done without telling my parents, who were in my hometown Baroda. And it was a last minute decision with no time to take a flight and it was Ashish who made me sit in a Volvo Bus from Ahmedabad to Mumbai, and encouraged my dream, when I wasn’t confident enough,” she shares.

Later of course, Dipna told her parents and they took time but eventually supported her and understood that she was very serious about her dream. On the other hand, Tanvika, who was her batchmate, photoshopped a photo of Dipna with a crown and wrote Miss Universe on it so that she could see that every day and make it a reality.

“Eventually I ended up winning Miss Universe India 2012, 2nd runner up title, which is alternatively called ‘Miss Asia Pacific India’. And Ashish and Tanvika were equally happy as if they won it too. These bonds are so special and it’s their love and belief in me that pushed me to do better. We three are in different cities now but I’m in touch with them and will be there for them whenever they need me. A friend in need is a friend indeed,” she concludes.