Compliments? Yes please, with salt!

I was wary of compliments, especially from friends. I would blush, mumble a thank you and quickly get far away from the person. Personally, I preferred long-distance compliments, because I found it a lot easier to let the voice break over the phone and pretend not to have heard it right.

Until I heard one of them last year...

After that, whenever I am given a compliment, I smile and note it down mentally.  I’ve learnt to take it with a sack full of salt. Now I just blow them away. If they still float around, I observe for sometime longer and invariably it has always gone back as chips on its owners' shoulders.

For instance, I have one friend who drools eloquent on what I serve her. Later she advices me on how easy it is go beyond the basic three-course meal.

There are a couple of them who cannot stop exclaiming about the décor of my home and how neatly I maintain my house. One of them later said, I need to cleanse it for proper chi. "I sense unwanted elements".

One of them said she 'envies' my slender frame. Later, she said I lack core strength. At this age, building core strength is more important than being thin...

Our thoughts are, indeed, powerful. I shouldn't have been wary of them to begin with, I guess.

Here's the first instance that shook my antennas last year...  http://bit.ly/Wu8phy

I knew she was blowing, yet I got blown

She walked in, too busy to breathe that she instead panted, after having kept me waiting for an hour. Thankfully, it was a shopping mall, and I had an excuse to pamper my feet.

“I’m sorry. I had a crazy day. The head is gone nuts….and…and…. So, tell me, what do you do?”

“Me!!”

[We were meeting for the first time, but after she finding out about me over the phone over a period of four months and myself having postponed this first meeting at least half-a-dozen times.]

“Yeah, of course, I know what you do. It’s great knowing you. Ever since Gauri spoke about you, I’ve been wanting to catch up with you. You write so well…”

I nodded. Smiled.

“You’ve got a good sense of humour.”

“Me!!”

[I had hardly spoken until then during the face-to-face monologue. And it was almost the same over the phone. I had managed to comment or reply when she remembered to breathe]

So, now I sincerely parted my lips wider, and in way of conversation asked, “Have you read my blogs?”

“Oh, do you blog? I like bloggers. BTW, you are so pleasant and nice to speak to…”

[I did have a choice. I prefer self-chattering to mutual dialogues]

“…So what do you do?”

“Me!!”

“Yeah. Apart from your day job…”

Not wanting to give her more monologue fodder, I said, “I sleep.”

“Ah, no wonder you have such glowing skin.”

“Me!!”

[This time I held the arm rest]

“Yeah, of course. Nobody has told you this before. And I love your smile.”

“Thank you!”

“…so, tell me what do you do?”

“Me!!”

“I mean, you are an editor, yeah.”

“Uh Uh”

“I’ve written something about how our company is hosting an exclusive exhibition on rare stones next month – a first in the GCC. If you could publish it on your site…”