What women want????

I was just wondering about a frequently speculated and discussed yet never really solved question: WHAT WOMEN WANT/THINK? After allowing my mind to think a bit about this (being a member of this wonderful species) and discussing with a few close friends (of the same sex), I arrived at a few conclusions which need not reflect individualistic traits of our sorority sisters. These are just generalizations without any intent to degrade feminism. And these points are addressed to our spouses/partners.

1. We like being liked, being admired. Yes, praises from any genuine admirer is most welcome. But please do not over do it. We have this knack of sieving out the pretentious words from the heartfelt ones!

2. We hate to discuss our weights and ages. We do not like being called ‘skinny’, ‘carom board’, ‘skeleton’, ‘bag of bones’, etc., and we abhor adjectives like ‘obese’, ‘overweight’, ‘heavy’, ‘BMW’, etc. If we are on the wrong side of 30, please spare us the ‘oh-she-is-approaching-menopause’ type of look (kind attention Dear Husbands. You all are not growing younger with age either)

3. We love to shed tears on the emotional scenes of Hindi films. And we are not ashamed to admit that we like soppy movies. So do not be nervous if you find us sobbing in the mid of a matinee show. We want you to understand our feelings.

4. We expect you to praise our culinary efforts. You will not have cardiac arrest if you do not make a face over that extra pinch of salt in the curry or the ‘too sweet’ desserts.

5. We love to gossip. Just watch how a few of our clan meet in leisure and dissect the entire lifetime of someone we do not like. It’s a natural trait and we want you to understand that. Also, I have seen many a husband ask questions to their wives later (after the female friends have left) what were they discussing about. At least do not pretend that you are not interested in what or who we are discussing about.

6. We love gifts. Have a heart to shower gifts on the smallest pretext or occasion. Stop being a miser, and open your purse, or better still, just swipe your card!

7. When we shop, be courteous enough to carry our shopping bags. Our fragile arms ache with the heavy weight of bags!

8. Do not praise your friends’ wives/girlfriends in front of us. We just hate that! We are least bothered about the Boss’s wife’s cleavage or the secretary’s lean waist.

9. Do not discuss work at home.

10. We love to go on long drives. So at least on weekends, plan out something on your own without asking us where to go. But please, spare us the mundane visits to some boring action movie or to meet up the friends of your ‘all-boys-club’.

11. Once a while, cook up a meal for us, and please do not mess up the whole kitchen in the endeavour.