Getting and Giving Compliments

 I got a few this last week or two. From different people, the common thing being that they were doctoral students, and faculty. One was a total stranger, Ananya Ghosh, and I had met her for the first time at a Doctoral Consortium-Colloquium- at XLRI. Anyway, the point is it felt good. 

Some of the actors involved- Prachi Jain, Akansh Khandelwal and Vartika Varyani with hubby in the second pic

At XLRI, Anjana Dharmani, who exchanged some compliments with me- she's a Ph.D. student in Marketing-above, second from right. 

Below, Ananya Ghosh, from St. Xavier's university Kolkata.

Giving compliments is an art, I think. Not everyone can do it. I try, and succeed at times in getting the message across. I enjoy giving them too. Usually brings a smile to the face of the recipient, and I like smiling faces much better than grumpy ones. That was my major complaint against denizens of Kerala when I lived there. They seemed unnecessarily grumpy! No idea why. Not so the Mallus I know from all my places of work, though. Many had a great smile too! I remember Sandhya Sajeev and Pooja Daniel from KIAMS, Harihar, for example. And  Vidya T.C. and Smita Mohan.

Sorry, But You Look Great

In the good old days, complimenting a lady on her beauty was an art that was highly valued. Chivalry was also a high art form, with Sir Walter Raleigh being known (among other things) for spreading out his cape on the floor for a lady to walk on.

Opening doors and pulling chairs out for women to sit on were considered a done thing for a gentleman, and the ladies were grateful for it. But it looks as though times have changed.

An Obama finds himself in the soup for having complimented the good looks of an attorney general in a Western state of the US of A. And finally, out of a threat of censure or of being asked to demit office (not sure what demit means but anyway, sounds right here), has APOLOGISED to the said lady. Sorry I thought you were beautiful, or something like that. How un-cool is that?

On the same lines, can I call someone ugly without being apologetic about it? And without the lady being apoplectic about it? Something to think about, surely.