As most women in Pakistan  can vouch for it, you sometimes wish your significant other could read your mind and save you the embarrassment of asking him for things you think he really should be mindful of himself?  As Ariana Grande aptly puts it: But some things are better left unsaid.

Disclaimer: For the sake of keeping this post halal we’ve had to use the words “potential-husband/potential-sartaj” in place of boyfriend/boytoy/baby.

Unannounced Flowers

Ah, the old school classic. No matter how intricately we weave ourselves into our busy routines, a bouquet of flowers still manages to trump all kinds of pick-me-ups and just makes your day better instantly. Bringing a smile to women’s faces since 2,500BC without any exaggeration, the beautifully arranged floral bouquets you see today actually date back to ancient Egypt! Still retaining their position at the top, you can’t just ever go wrong with flowers. So stop overthinking and just get her a bunch of diamon- I mean DAFFODILS!

Unannounced Presents

What could be better than unannounced flowers? Unannounced PRESENTS! Because guess what? THEY DON’T WILT! And they stay there, in their non-perishableness, existing for an entire eternity, reminding us of your undying love. It’s a win-win situation, boys. Really.

Unexpected rishta

And what’s better than BOTH surprise presents and flowers? Surprise rishta by your beloved! The day you’ve been waiting for ever since you got unofficially and un-Islamically committed to him. The day has come which if goes right, with the perfect cup of chai presented to the potential saasu maa would finally exalt your status from the unwanted spinster to the sada suhaagan. You obviously don’t have to do anything more than subtly hinting to him about the bevy of potential rishtas lined up for you given the hot cookie you are.

Miraculously know when we’re in a bad mood

If telepathy isn’t your thing, MAKE IT. Because let’s be honest, who in their right mind would want to go around holding a placard announcing they’re cranky? So do not expect a black and white answer to “what’s wrong”? Because in reality there is nothing wrong. Or maybe something IS wrong. We can’t really figure it out on our own because if we could, we wouldn’t really have needed you. So a little help would be great.

Lets you be a fashionista and wear crop tops.

You know what’s the worst for so many privileged women in Pakistan? Having your husband or significant other dictate your fashion sense because boy oh boy, if you had one you’d be leading the fashion industry in Milan not wasting your life away balancing your balance sheets. And well after all if we’re going to move to Canada, you can’t expect us to go clubbing with you in a chooridar.

Look at your guy friends the same way as your girl friends

All girls have a few close or not so close guy friends they don’t exactly consider to be “guys” guys. However the men in their life still do and very much so. What we want from you is to see our male friends in the same harmless rainbow light as we do. They’re in our lives for a purpose. They’re great friends minus all the drama, hypocrisy and jealousy that is part and parcel of their female counterparts. Plus, we always need perspective on how to decipher your mood swings and who else could judge that better than a guy himself? Right? RIGHT?

Act possessive and protective sparingly

No, that does not mean we dig a psychopath who decrypts our mobile-phone password through fingerprints on our phone-screens, it’s just that we occasionally like to feel valued and treasured. And what better way to manifest that than acting a little protective of us from time to time? Like when we’re going out of the country alone? Or feeling a little jealous of Fawad Khan while we swoon at his delectable half-smile? Basically it’s all healthy and adorable just as long as you don’t decide to stab all our celebrity crushes or inform the cops patrolling our international borders.

Stand up to his amma, phuphi, taayi, chachi, bua and khala for you

Now, many women in Pakistan know, if you’ve been lucky enough to get wedded off in a joint family, you must know of all the unwelcome muft-mashwaras and nose-poking by your husband’s kith and kin that follow suit. At times it tends to get a tad haywire and that’s when a good husband should step in and stand up for his better half.

Praise your culinary skills

Whether you both live together under the same roof or not, this applies. Always. Doesn’t matter if you’re big on fusion cooking and like to throw in some strawberries and mango chunks to your lamb chops, the ideal husband would love and praise it more than Joey did when Rachel put together a savory meat and fruit trifle.

Be your best friend and Significant Other at the same time

Quite possibly the most important thing all women want from their partners. We’re not difficult, we’re not unpredictable and we’re definitely not from Venus. We’re regular human-beings and we really want our partners to be made out of the same fairy dust as our best friends. You don’t necessarily have to agree with us all the time (although we’re never wrong so I don’t see the point of you disagreeing with us) but even so much as valuing our opinion and our judgment is a step in the right direction to winning us over.

Women in Pakistan don’t really have too many demands, dil hai chota sa, choti si aasha 😉