Team Tin!

Most women struggle with two things in life 1) Finding the right man 2) Finding right gift for her man. I didn't want to mess up the second one while the first one was done and dusted ten years ago.

Getting gift for men is like swimming in fish tank. confined, repetitive, and occasionally involves flailing.Shirt, perfume, wallet ,Magazine subscriptions they don’t read and Repeat..

They also make this process a bit hard...What’s wrong with my wallet? I already have one!

I haven't heard women saying I already have a hand bag.

But last time my husband pointed out off late ‘I’m not gifting him, I’m gifting myself’ . Was I? Couples spa, Vacation, Couples Photo shoot..might he has a point there. Though I didn’t accept this...lessons from being married for ten years..i decided to do something about it.


I did the same thing what women in crisis do…turned to advice of my besties. Raji, one of my besties suggested there is an element for each year of marriage and forwarded me the Insta video of someone who celebrated with flowers. I quickly browsed what is the element for 10th year and it was ..Tin. That list started with Paper for 1st year and ended with Diamond for 60th year. The more I went through the list it felt like my student days where we write powerful introduction and conclusion but middle parts are often hazy.

Undeterred I changed the whatsapp group name as ‘Team Tin’ and asked my besties for ideas.

Aruna, bless her heart, suggested engraving a poem into Tin, Pinterest-style. My husband doesn’t even read poems if I write them on paper. Nor the grocery list I write inpapers..so I didn’t go with that.

That’s when Sujatha chimed in. See only you know your marriage..Close your eyes..think one object from A to Z which relates to your marriage there lies your gift ideas. Strange idea but yeah let me try…

I closed my eyes and thought A for Apple, B for Boy like we are conditioned and got back to Sujatha saying it didn’t help.

There were frenzy of ideas in Team Tin but nothing helped me. That’s when I did what women in extreme crisis mode do..Yes ..I went Shopping.

I ended up buying several things..unfortunately nothing for my husband. In the food court Sujatha asked me to try ABC’s of marriage again. When I closed my eyes, she said ‘Try it for real now..you will be surprised at how easy it is’

I was surprised because when I closed my eyes ideas came in a flow:

A : Air conditioner: I have never seen a couple who is comfortable in same AC temperature. Research says 90% of the couple don’t and rest 10% are liars..let me go to

B: Budgets: what I learnt in ten years of marriage, if your husband is sitting in front of laptop and calls you, be warned it’s not for vacation plan like you imagined. He is going to project budget spreadsheet.

C: Cooking : If your husband says he’ll cook, don’t get fooled. He’s going to stand near the stove and keep asking you Where’s butter? Where’s onion? despite living in the same house for years

D- Distraction: We all do that RIGHT? When I want to avoid topics like ‘Why credit card bills are huge this time? How many girls night you will plan this month?’ I will gently divert my husband’s attention towards topic where I know he will drop everything else and be involved. For ex: Do you remember Aditya one from Block D, while on the way to parking he mentioned his car gives 20km per liter isn’t yours only 15km per liter. That’s it he will be busy browsing with Team BHP, Car wale etc..

Car… not made of tin..alsoI’m not Ambanis..all I have is their …wait that’s when I got the idea…

My friends were shocked..’Seriously?’ they asked...Yes I know my marriage and my husband I said. You should also try this ABC method.

My husband as shocked, surprised and elated when I presented him shares of Tata Tinplates for our Tenth Tin anniversary.

Also my 11th year anniversary of steels is sorted. Element for 11th year is Steels..judging between Tata Steels and JSW Steels