What Makes People Attractive?

 I don't know. It could be anything, and our perceptions are different. 

Some like famous people- celebrities, from sports, film, TV or other spheres. But I am talking of mere mortals here. What makes the guy/girl next door, or those from the Ordinary Mortals class attractive?

There are probably many things. These might also be surprising in some cases.

Sincerity or honesty in my view, is one major factor that makes a guy/girl attractive.

A helpful nature.

Intelligence, in some cases, if it's not tinged with arrogance.

Sense of humour.

Politeness of demeanour. 

A good smile helps, in all the above..

The opposite, what makes people unattractive, in my view at least -

Arrogance

A tendency to show off.. 

Zero respect for other people's time.

Inability to smile. 

Inability to laugh at oneself.

Japan Experiences- Service

A recent trip to Japan resulted in several experiences, some unique, and most very good. I will share two service experiences because Indians will find both different, if not strange.

As we waited for the ANA flight (Delhi-Tokyo Narita) to take off around midnight at Terminal 3, we saw a strange sight. All the stewardesses assembled in the seating area near the gate, and got into an animated discussion with each other about various things, related to the guests on board that flight. They were speaking in Japanese, but one could see the sincerity of purpose and dedication that they brought to the job. I have never seen anything like it before, so I was stupefied. We tend to take work -any work- a lot more casually out here.

The second was an experience at a local bank in Beppu, Japan. We went in around 9.30 in the morning into an empty bank, and asked to change a few dollars into Yen, the local currency. The procedure took almost twenty minutes, after what looked like several layers of checks, or signatures, or verification of the currency's genuineness. This was puzzling, as it rarely takes more than a minute in many international destinations- I have tried this at least in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. We never found out the reason, but I assume that they are thorough in their doing things, which is not a bad thing. Couldn't help wondering that in India, given our crowds in banks, we'd never get any work done at this pace.

More experiences later.