Cherishing our daughters of India
Today I am reminded of one of the incidents in my adoption journey. I cannot properly recall the true relationship, but roughly, my mum's cousin's daughter-in-law's cousin sister, or someone similarly distantly related to me, had a 3d daughter. Her husband, and I believe his family, were disappointed. They are not bad people. But the culture of India, and especially in our home state of Punjab, is that, a girl is a debt with no reward. In financial and economic terms, she is measured as a pure burden. You clothe her, feed her, maybe educate her, and then you must give her a good dowry in order to get someone to marry her and take her off your hands. In financial terms, parents worry. A son however, will take care of you (you hope!) and his wife will bring in a good dowry to the family. He will never leave you so it is perceived to be a good investment to put everything you have towards him. So, this family, was anxious about their 3d daughter. My mum's cousin had beco...