What men dread...

...women and wedding - separately and together! It is a well-known saying that a woman's mind is a mystery to man but what is more confusing to them is a woman's excitement about a wedding, her's for the most part and others', for the rest of her life ! So menfolk, here is my attempt to help you with that and I am sure some tips will prevent you from getting killed !

Well, if we rewind to why I am getting so worked up is because I just saw an episode of ''Everybody loves Raymond'', where Ray tapes over their wedding video by mistake and Debra (his wife) learns it when she tries to watch the video on their tenth anniversary. She completely flips (very understandably) and goes bazookas on him and believe it or not, my first reaction was to check my wedding DVD to see that the copy is still there and what's more, I made a back up (even though I know my parents and in-laws have one each). A word of advice, guys - NEVER EVER and that means NEVER EVER mess with your wedding pictures or videos (or with someone else's for that matter), no woman will consider it funny and the likelihood of her turning murderous is really high....why you wonder...read ahead.

Women crave attention, get jealous of other women (could range from family or friends to foes) and the one day that they know where the former becomes unnecessary and the latter becomes redundant is their wedding day (or days, I had 3 :D); a day that most of them have waited for ever since they were dressed up in a madisar for a fancy dress competition (yeah, yeah, I am replacing all white veil and related stuff with the Tambram equivalent) and everyone remarked how cute they looked. They believe it is more or less the last day (or rather the last phase) of their girly life and they have earned the right to enjoy it to the fullest.

This is also the one chance she gets to show off her man, all dressed up and gentlemanly (its quite an effort for many to do this on regular days) and proudly announce to the world that the wedding day is a preview of their happily-ever-after.

She gets pampered, oohed and aahed and above all, its that time of her life where the woman is at her best...I have noticed that all girls look gorgeous during their wedding (even if the make-up does not go well with them, there are always some casual pics that will prove my point), I do not know if its all the extra attention she gives to grooming or the inner happiness that moulds the exterior but its true.

I know there are scores of hollywood movies out there that show all this in vivid detail...obviously only seen by women since men believe (and rightly so :D) that these are chick-flicks. Although the planning-a-wedding part is not so huge in desi weddings where parents take a load off the girls' shoulder, she still remains a part of every decision making process. She cherishes every moment, remembers every compliment, works herself to insomnia to avoid every critical remark and its almost as big as choosing the groom itself (and in some cases bigger since there are also desi parents who choose the groom themselves and let the girl choose everything else).

Gentlemen, you do not have to understand why it is important as long as you understand it is important and play along. It's once in a lifetime, so go along and do not question her why she is upset that the shade of bangles is a tad different from that of her sari or why she is making you try 6 different suits before you can buy one for the reception. Just keep in mind that she is going to be looking at these pictures even when she is 60 and will be bragging to her grand-daughter about how pretty she looked on her wedding day and you want to keep up, don't you ? Since your kids are going to see these pictures too, make sure that you do not have to answer the question from your toddler - ''why is appa not smiling ?''

These are going to be her happiest memories for a really really long time to come and it wouldn't hurt (well, it actually might if you mess up ;) :D) for you to help her, right ?