Zen and The Art of Complimenting!

Where and when did you receive your most touching and your most badass compliment? I'll go first and please follow suit in the comment box.

When I was a little child, one of my mom's colleagues in Shillong, Bina Jethai used to say, ' Ei morom loga soku keta ba kaar ghorot jabo?' which translates to 'I wonder in whose house these lovely eyes will go' but in literal terms meant, 'I wonder who would you get married to'. Her voice still rings in my ears, her sublime face still distinct. Such is the power of complimenting and the way it touches lives.

More recently I was dressed for an outdoor party at a friend's place and  asked my mom if i looked okay. She told me 'You look like a Babydoll' her voice exuding humor. It was her

way of saying, Why do you ask? Yes ofcourse, You always dress up nicely, Do you really need my opinion? - all at the same time. 

In an era of social media induced auto-generated inundation of compliments, their value is degenerated. I make an effort to make them more specific at least half of the time. If the right compliment can make someone's day or more, then why not?

A few other real life compliments make me smile whenever I remember them. We lived Kolkata in the early 2000s and I was seeing an elderly lady Sharmila mashi, who was an acquaintance, after a while and asked her if she remembered me. She responded in Bengali saying,  'Ei chehera ta ek baar dekhle ki bhoola jai? ( Can one forget this face, after seeing it once? ). On another occasion,  seeing me fretting over something,  a coworker had said, 'Whenever you feel sad, go and look at yourself in a mirror?' 😃

The most badass compliment I received was also from a coworker, early in my career. Even in the most developed country in the world  America, women are often not treated fairly or equally in the workplace.  When I started working here, I was surprised to see that the otherwise very independent girls, would still not speak up in such circumstances. I on the other hand was known to be 'NICE' ,but if someone hurt my interests and stepped on my toes, it wouldn't take a second to raise my voice. I did it inadvertently and one of girls I worked with who was observing said one day, ' You can morph from a butterfly to a superbitch in seconds' . It still makes me feel powerful, although my personality and attitude towards resolving such things has transformed to some extent, over the years. 

I have this and other posts written in my head for a while. I am just transcribing it to digital now. Hope you like it and please share your experiences with compliments.🙏🙏🙏