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Karwa Chauth: A guide for husbands

Karwa Chauth is one of the most difficult days for women. Women fast throughout the day till they see the moon in the evening. My wife, for reasons unknown to me, observes the extremist form of fasting. She doesn’t even have water till the evening. She has been doing it from the very first year of our marriage. Amazing!!!

I am sure it takes a lot of resolve to follow the rules of Karwa Chauth, and every year she has surprised me by successfully completing the fasting ritual. As difficult it is for her, it’s also difficult for me. And I am sure all the other husbands feel the same. Here are the things that husbands should keep in mind to ensure that the Karwa Chauth is happy and peaceful.

  1. Wake up early. There’s a lot of things to do.
  2. Go shopping. The wife’s shopping list will be long.
  3. Come back before the wife and the kids wake up.
  4. Make breakfast for kids, feed them, bathe them, prepare them for the day.
  5. Take shower and be ready for the never ending instructions from the wife and kids.
  6. Prepare lunch, feed the kids. Eat yourself, if you manage to find some time in between.
  7. Keep asking your wife throughtout the day if she is ok.
  8. Keep a tab on the kids so that they don’t irritate the wife in any way.
  9. Right before the puja in the evening, get ready for the last minute shopping list that the wife will have ready for you.
  10. Prepare evening snacks for kids, feed the kids. Don’t forget to check with your wife if she is ok.
  11. Assist the wife to make arrangements for the puja in the evening.
  12. Keep looking at the sky to check whether the moon is visible, even if you aleady know exactly the moonrise timings.
  13. It’s normal for the wife to keep complaining about being thirsty. Assure her that the moon will be visible any second.
  14. Keep looking at the sky. Have a little more patience. Just a few more minutes. You will get over this ordeal once the wife sights the moon and has had her dinner.
  15. Once you see the moon in the sky, run as fast as you can and pull your wife out to look at the sky.
  16. Be ready with a glass of water. A bit more patience. I know you must be running out of the last traces of patience in you.
  17. Give her water, some prasad.
  18. Say: “I love you”.
  19. While the wife is having her dinner, make sure you still have the kids under control. I promise, this is the last mile that you have to keep up. Don’t give up now.
  20. That’s it. Clap for her, thank her. Clap for yourself. You will be filled with a sense of unexplainable achievement.
  21. Take a deep breath. You are done for the day. Yay!!!
  22. Almost. Feed the kids, and eat yourself. You must be super hungry by now, and super tired as well.

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