The Indian Natalism for Sons
Credit: Wikipedia Commons After having my sister, Sudha, my mom, Lakshmi, was hoping for a boy... because only boys look after their aged parents, right? Because only boys light their parents’ funeral pyres, right? Because you can have many daughters but all of them don’t equal a son, right? My mom’s aunt insisted that she have a boy and after 9 years of my sister’s birth and I was conceived. My stepmother, Ramani wasn’t happy to learn about the pregnancy and declared loudly if I was ever to be born, she wouldn’t lend a hand to take care of me. My dad, Krishna wouldn’t hear any of my stepmother’s harangue and said my birth is final, whether she liked it or not. My mom was my dad’s second wife. My stepmother is my mom’s eldest sister, and my dad was their maternal uncle. I have 5 half-siblings, Nisha, Tara, Premi, Banu, and Babu. It is a conundrum. Indeed. Truth is stranger than fiction. High hopes ran that I would have dangly genitals. Saffron and milk were consumed together...