I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A TRAGEDY.

I am the last born of four daughters in an Indian family, which obviously means my birth was a tragedy. Well, at least for those who congratulated my mother with, ‘I’m so sorry,’ or, ‘Better luck next time,’ or who said things amongst themselves like it was a shame that it was a girl, again. Now, I don’t have kids so I’m not sure what it’s like, but can you imagine carrying a human being inside you for the better part of a year and going through blood, sweat and tears to get it out only to hear, ‘Better luck next time!’

It should have been my first clue that people in this world I had just come into could be totally bonkers. I mean if it had been me I would have probably karate-chopped them in the throat before they even got to ‘next time’, but perhaps this is why it’s better I don’t have kids. Boys, as. It’s those spoilt boys who won’t pick up a single dish, who play video games all day and abandon you when they get a wife, who are the real disappointment. Yet somehow daughters always get the worse rap. They are the ‘burden to bear’, ‘the carriers of shame’, ‘the consolation prize’ in our communities.