5 ways to tell if you’ve found the right man

Any man who fulfils these criteria is a keeper

Like many other women before you, you have swooned over Mr Darcy telling Elizabeth Bennet how ardently he admires and loves her. You may have wondered if you will ever find your own personal Mr Darcy, and may despair at how you will ever know. After all, Darcy himself was an egomaniacal jerk when he first encountered his beloved. If you remain unsure, here are some signs you have a gem in your midst: 

1. He understands the importance of baby names 

The birth of your new baby is also often when you learn just how appalling said baby’s new grandparents’ name choices are. Generally speaking, the more hideous the name, the greater the insistence of the grandparents to bestow it upon their beloved new arrival. If you have a man who can shun parental pressure in the face of baby names, you’ve found yourself a keeper.

2. He knows how to iron

It is no good if your other half remembers to buy flowers on birthdays but can’t tell the difference between an iron and a toaster. A useful litmus test is to give him a chunri dupatta and tell him to smoothen it out. If he succeeds, you have a unicorn. Give him points if he can iron his own work shirts. Mega bonus points if he can do yours, too. Never, ever let this man escape from your clutches. 

3. He can tell one end of a baby from another

Nothing beats an involved father who takes an active part in his child’s welfare from the word go. The bonding that comes with rocking an infant to sleep builds a permanent foundation that you will both reap in the years to come.  A man who doesn’t automatically delegate all baby work to the mother is a man who understands the importance of everlasting love. 

4. He knows what a frying pan is

It is a truth universally acknowledged that men from a certain geographical background have a pathological fear of a kitchen the way others would fear, say, a rat swimming in the toilet. If you can weed out the non-starters and find yourself someone who has basic kitchen survival skills and doesn’t fear for his masculinity at the prospect of frying an egg, give him one giant tick mark. 

5. He doesn’t speak when you drive