In most of these cases, this last ‘honeymoon` compliment is an indicator of the things to come. Here are some examples:
He says: “You look good in a Saaree!”
He means: The jeans that you are wearing now is bursting at its seams
He says: “You have been working even on our honeymoon. Why don`t you sit and let me pack?”
He means: Your packing style is so bad that we will need two extra bags.
Anyway, the gist is that selecting a woman as your wife is the biggest compliment you can give her.
Ten years back, my father gifted me a book by Dale Carnegie titled ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People`. It is a self help book that`s been on the New York Best Sellers list for a whopping ten years and has sold 15 million copies so far. Ok, now it would be 15 million and one with my purchase and the numbers keep growing.
In the book, Dale Carnegie wants his readers to compliment people no matter what. Ever since then, I began the practice 10 years back and have mastered the art. In the last ten years, I have complimented every person I have met at least once daily. So much so that I have run out of ideas.
Over the years I have also learnt never to give a compliment expecting a receipt for it. Especially because I consider myself a dull and boring looking person, it only makes the life of the compliment receiver tough. I do not want to makes him lie and eventually be responsible for the person going to hell.
Yesterday, with nothing else to say, I looked at my colleague Himanshu Mishra and said, “Nice shoulders!” . At that time, he gave me a stare and during lunch accosted me in the washroom. After a mild struggle, I managed to free myself and save my virginity.
Complimenting girls was easy earlier. I would start with the headband and work my way to the bindis, earrings, bangles, then to the anklets and then their high-heels.
With time, I wanted to improve on the quality of my compliments and thereby ended up asking them to marry me. All this because somebody said that the best compliment you can give a lady is asking her to marry you. Isn’t it?
Out of the hundreds of girls I have asked out, eight have agreed. What do I do now? I am in a fix. Please help!
By day, Jamshed V Rajan (also known as Jammy), is Director - Products, India, at Nimbuzz and by night he is a wannabe stand-up comedian. He blogs about his wife and life (and in recent times, his 3-year-old daughter too!) at www.ouchmytoe.com.