Thursday 12 January 2012

Koi Baat Nahin…Lakshmi Aayi hai!!!!

I thought writing this post few months back(lazy me can be blamed) but R's Mom post really charged me up and compelled me to blurt out my experience. Thanks RM.
Koi Baat Nahin…Lakshmi Aayi hai!!!!(Translation: Nothing to worry…Goddess Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth) has arrived)
This is one common line which I heard from couple of people when Mishti was born. However, not to mention that their tone never had that excitement if in real Goddess of wealth had arrived with a big gunny bag of gold & diamonds!!
The consolation in most of the people’s tone was quite audible. Sorry to say but like reading between the lines sometimes you can hear beyond the lines. Few smart ones quickly said “It doesn’t matter it is a boy or a girl, just a hale & hearty baby”. and they are smart ones to alter their original comments because of my ‘firebrand’(!!) nature but forget to wipe the consolation in their tone.
One of my elderly relative said 'Ohhhh (I am stressing on this big Ohhh)….daughters bring good luck to family'. Excuse me…if I had given birth to a son then why would have his ‘luck quotient’ had been lesser???
When I was in my 2nd trimester, there were two or three more female colleagues who were expecting. So we used to have our group discussion forum on maternity issues anytime, anywhere…J. Few other female colleagues (generally moms) would also join us. One day, a mom to a 2 year old brought a fun test (a questionnaire kind of list which asks whether you like to eat sweet or salty food, which side of your tummy the baby has more movements…) to decide the gender of the unborn baby. All of us took the test for fun. After an hour I found one of the preggo ladies crying in the washroom. When I asked she told me that how mean of that other lady who deliberately twisted the test and told her it’s a girl!!! I got so irked that I sarcastically said that she can very well exchange her result with mine( I got the result that it’s a boy) and barged out of the restroom. Imagine an educated lady, working in a MNC crying because someone told her she would a mother to a girl….horrible!!!!
She had told me later that how her SIL (a MBA, mother of a male child) says that at least the first child should be a boy so that her importance in her household is maintained. I felt she was also quite convinced with this logic!!!
Another really weird viewpoint I heard when one of my close relative told me that if my genes overshadows my hubby’s genes then it would be a girl  ( we are two sisters only, no brothers  and my hubby has a young brother, no sisters)and vice versa. What a twisted genetic theorem…..I really felt like taking out my notepad & pen and explaining her complete XX & XY chromosome theory!!!!
Some futuristic people advised me to start saving money for my girl. When I asked snapped them if it had been a boy then a saving was not needed, they few got the drift and changed the topic to “money is nowadays such a necessity for better upbringing of a child”.
I really fail to understand why there is crazy attitude to have a son. Might be I won’t ever experience it as my parents never injected this fact that I have done some crime being a girl. We are two sisters and my parents never yearned for a son. When I was pregnant I read the news of a newborn girl killed by her mother in some village, I literally begged to Almighty that “please if a baby boy is in my womb exchange it to someone’s girl who are crazy for a son” (You see…pregnancy hormones were elevated at their best that time…J!!!!)
Jokes apart, I really feel sorry for these people. Some traits are injected so deeply that even high education cannot wash it. Another very common term I had heard that “Ye meri beti nahi beta hai (She is not a daughter but a son to me). This again turns me off. Why can’t we accept our girls as simple human daughters without labeling them as Goddess, good/bad luck charm or a son? Why any daughter has to prove their mettle by camouflaging as a son?
But I had saved the best for the last: My girl is fairer as compared to me and my hubby. So one of the elderly relative told me that “Good she is fair….you won’t face any difficulty while searching a match for her” Damn…Give me a break!!!

14 comments:

  1. Gosh you are kidding me with the last line...I wouldnt have believed you if it hadnt happened to me...I think I did a post long ago on that...R is darker than RD and me....she has gone on my MIL..but so what??

    http://readingthroughrsmind.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/is-dark-beautiful/

    Loved your take on the topic..hugs to you and the little one

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    1. Hey RM...finally i m able to reply my comments, changed the browser....
      You see ur posts motivates me...mite b i will write more posts tagging you & ur posts...:-)

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  2. Ewwwww. That last line definitely is weird.... You know you have literally read my mind. Thankfully none in the family (hubby's or mine) say these things but when I hear anything like this I get sick.
    I remember when I was preggo... me and Fizz always said we wanted a girl, not that we wouldv'e had a problem otherwise. Z for us is a blessing and we wouldn't have asked for anything else.

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    1. saw zoe's pics....see is a darling....:-)

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  3. these attitudes are slllooowwllly changing! the way we bring up our sons and daughters is going to decide the future. i hope more of us stop differentiating like some of the eejits we come across. lovely post N! :)

    cheers!@

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    1. Yesss...no matter how educated some people are they tend to utter such lines which can drive a mother insane. A child is a child...no matter a boy or a girl. We cannot decide the sex of a child. A child is a gift in itself, we should accept the newborn whole heartedly without any discrimination.

      Furthermore, do not expect anything from your child whether boy or girl. Just love them and get love from them. Educate them to fullest.
      Every child gets busy with their life after a certain period of time.

      I love my li'l princess and very happy that my family loves her too.......


      All the best!!!!!!!!!!

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    2. Thnx dear....yeah, its changing but as u said slooooooooooowly...:-)

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  4. Hi Nibedita,
    I completely agree with your thoughts... this also shows how ignorant ppl are... I mean they still do not know that it's the male parent who decides the gender of the child!! Hopefully in the coming generations, people will be more open-minded and will genuinely celebrate the birth of a girl child...

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    1. WE can always hope for the best and make it happen with bringing the change at our level.

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  5. I hope they all watched Satyameva jayate Show ;)

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    1. hey welcome here... :-)

      hope they have watched the show .....

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  6. Yeah, sad this attitude still exists. I have a lot of aunts and grannys who give me their special blessings "beta hoye" As if that's what decides, and presuming that's what I want!

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  7. hmm one sad fact i noticed it.. this 'craving' for a male child exists in western culture. pick any tvshow for tht matter and the main character's offspring would be male - HIMYM,scrubs, friends to cite afew i watch--weird :@(

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  8. one tight slap is what these kinda people deserve!
    to use a crude language " sab dimag thik ho jaega , agar ek jhapad padha"

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