'Most married women are able to relate': Wife's detailed shopping list for husband goes viral

The woman's list was thorough. Photo / via Twitter

Everyone can relate to the frustration of sending a loved one to the store with instructions on what to buy, only for them to return with exactly the wrong thing.

Indian IT worker Era Golwalkar has clearly been there, and doesn't take chances. A photo tweeted out by the 29-year-old over the weekend of an extremely detailed shopping list for her husband has gone viral.

"This is the task I gave to my hubby last weekend!" she wrote. "Even U guys shud follow this list for happy customers."

The two-page list, which even included mini-drawings of her ideal vegetables with right and wrong examples, struck a chord with many online.

In the note, Ms Golwalkar instructs her husband to pick "some yellow some red" tomatoes with "no holes", onions with "small size" and "round shape", and "medium size" potatoes with "no eyes or green colours".

She also gives specifications for picking palak (spinach) with "good leaves, no holes", bhindi (okra), methi (fresh fenugreek), and mirchi (chillies), which she instructs her husband to "ask for free".

In India, it is apparently common practice for grocers to give free chilli and coriander, particularly when the customer buys large quantities of vegetables.

In a follow-up post, Ms Golwalkar's husband Guarav, 31, shared an additional explanation from his wife about why she was so picky - red tomatoes are ready to use while yellow last three to four days, chillies with curled ends are "infested mostly", and methi with "less height" is "grown without adding fertiliser".

Many on Twitter asked to see more of her shopping lists, which Guarav said had "the same detail". "Hilarious!" wrote Rajnish Ranjan. "Every wife suffered especially vegetables shopping by their hubby. Perfect explanation 2 all husbands."

This is the task I gave to my hubby last weekend!! Even U guys shud follow this list for happy customers #bigbasket #grofers #reliancefresh pic.twitter.com/cGkPuRAvE9

— Era Londhe (@eralondhe) September 23, 2017

Dalia tweeted that she was "going to start doing this because as much as I love him I don't trust my fiance with grocery shopping".

Speaking to the BBC, Ms Golwalkar said the list grew out of "a weekly problem", with grocers taking advantage of her husband's naivety to sell him substandard products.

"After Gaurav and I got married three years ago we decided to split the household chores," she said. "Gaurav was very supportive and was ready to learn cooking (which is not common for a lot of men in India). But there was one problem. I wasn't aware of back then - he had no experience with anything related to cooking.

Since many wanted explanation of the vegetable list, check for the answers 😊 pic.twitter.com/EWVBHWyfFq

— Gaurav G (@gaurav198512) September 24, 2017

"When I first sent him to purchase vegetables, it was an epic fail and an argument ensued between us. The second time was no better. Nor was the third ... He would keep sending photos on WhatsApp to get my approval. So I had to get to the bottom of the problem."

Ms Golwalkar said judging from the reactions on social media, "most married women globally are able to relate to this". "Even kids can relate to when their mothers tell them to go and get something from the market and gives similar instructions," she said.