No one wants to be son-less!!!!

“Even today birth of girl child is viewed as a bad investment for future!!!!”
It’s the most beautiful day in life of every woman when she gets to know that she is expecting. But sometimes her expectations shape out in the ugliest way…in a way she could never have imagined.
Last week I was having a casual discussion with my cousin about how the women’s have really proved to be the pillars of the nation, how women in the past were deprived of education .they were not given any active participation rights and neither any privileges .the society was male dominated and was ruled mainly by ethics and morals. But now the women are enjoying the topmost supremacy and these have won over intelligence and mental capacity of the men. Suddenly our discussion was interrupted by my house maid Lakshmi and what she told us after that was shocking and made me cry over the plight of common women in Indian society.
She remembers the day when she came to know about her fifth pregnancy….she was at seventh sky, she wanted to rush to her husband and give him the good news. She ran barefooted but suddenly something inside her asked to stop….Her inner voice asked her...”What if this is also a girl?” “Have you forgotten about the last three abortions?” “Are you ready to bear it once again?” “Are you going to get this one also killed?” She moved to tears when she recollects the memories of her past. She narrates that she has been lucky to give birth to a boy as her first child and the only child till now. Her other three babies were aborted after sex determination tests, on knowing that the foetuses were female. With pain in her voice, she explains that my family feels that girls are a burden and after they are born, family needs to collect lot of dowry for her marriage and for poor people like us, it is not possible whereas sons are considered to be the only hope of old age and even after life and also they will bring in lot of money in form of dowry when they get married. Lakshmi said, “I knew that if this time also it is going to be a girl, she again have to go for an abortion.” But this time she was not ready to sacrifice her womb….this time she was sure she is going to give birth to a child....she was sure once a child is born whether it be a boy or girl her family will accept it. So, she collected herself and went to her maternal home in village. She didn’t tell her husband about her pregnancy. She was happy that now her child is safe. Her village had no facility for sex determination, so nine months passed without even consulting a doctor. Midwives are still popular at her place as she says. The day of her labor came and she gave birth to a girl child. But what happened after that is far beyond anyone can imagine. Her family refused to nurse her baby girl. To silence the infant's famished cries, the impoverished village woman squeezed the milky sap from some shrub, mixed it with castor oil, and forced the poisonous potion down the newborn's throat. The baby bled from the nose, then died soon afterward. Female neighbors buried her in a small hole near Lakshmi's hut. Lakshmi pleaded everybody present there for life of her child but no one came forward for help.
After listening to her story, I realized that India, a land that is regarded for its deeply cherished values and culture cannot escape its own social evils. The phenomenon of female infanticide is as old as many cultures, and has likely accounted for millions of gender-selective deaths throughout history. Women don’t go missing as young girls, wives or mothers but they go missing even before they are born. And it is the society that is to blame for this, for the real perpetrators of the crime are amongst us and they go scot-free every time.
The reason for this is unchecked technology combined with affordability that has made the practice of female infanticide a norm. People have completely shifted to female foeticide as a more ‘sanitary option'. But still we hear the news of few-days-old infants found dead in bushes, public toilets, parks or garbage bins. It’s like the aim of people hasn’t changed –no one wants to be son-less.
India a country where people worship more goddesses than any other in the world - female infanticide occurs at highest rate and we stand mute and indifferent. We refer India as “Mother India” but when it comes to having a girl child, even some of the richest couples refrain from doing so. It is really tough being a girl in a man’s world in India because here every right to live or be born is not granted to you.
Although all of us take pride in our Indian culture, we need to recognize that there is something fundamentally wrong with a culture that assumes the superiority of males, and that celebrates Indian women for being meek, submissive and sacrificial. One way you can help counter this mindset is by being proud of the women in your life, and by taking pride in yourself if you are a women .