Well this question would have been adressed differnetly if the community in question was some other than the Jats. The jat community is a very closely knit, those highly conservative in terms of relationships. I have tried my best to find one example of "friendship," between a jat boy and a jat girl. But cant come up with even one. Even our parents' acquaintances of the opposite sex, from their school-college days, address each others as brother and sister, and we call them, mama-bhua.
Now adressing the issue in a general sense, I would say that if you want to know if you can be firends with a boy or a girl, ask your heart, what your true intentions are. Irradey nek hone chahiyen. I can safely say I know a few gils, who I consider just firends. And if I put their characteristics in differnet sets, the common subset says, that all these girls are very different from me. The first one is a former co-worker, and older than me. The second one is former classmates- ex-girlfriend. Shes too open for a "Jat Boy." The third one is a lesbian, and believe me shes a very ordinary human being. Shes a retired US army officer.So summing up, before anything else comes to your mind, revise your intentions, and see how much in common do you have with this individual.
Finally, if you are still in doubt, this is what comes to my mind. Thomas Jefferson once said: When in doubt about something, and you think you can get away with it, think again, and imagine the whole world is watching you, and try doing it again. I would never do anything that I wont be able to go home and tell my Ma.
But, ek baat bataa yaar. Do you really think you can derive the same level of satisfation from your friendship with a girl, that you can with your other dude frineds. One thing I love doing with my dude friends is to get in my "Kacchaa" on a sunny afternoon, sit by the pool and have a barbeque. I dont think I could do that with any of my "woman firends."
