Daughters are like curds

 My maid is very sad that I don’t have a daughter! She herself has four children- the youngest is a daughter.  Unlike others who keep trying for a son, she wanted a daughter.  “One must have both milk and curd in life” is her philosophy.  

 “Who is the milk and who is the curd?” I asked her and pat came the reply “The girl of course is curd and boy is, milk!” I wanted her to explain her theory and this is what she had to say.   “Milk is a necessity, just as a boy is.  For good health you must have at least a glass a day.  If you like it you can set curd, but that is not an absolute must.  The same way, a daughter is desirable but not indispensable commodity.” So that’s what we women think of our own sex!

 If I am glad I don’t have a daughter it is for quaint reasons! Daughters tend to monopolise all the nice dresses and sarees in the mother’s wardrobe.  I remember how we three sisters used to raid mama’s cupboard and leave her with only the sarees we didn’t care for! Mother denied herself many pleasures, always thinking of us and we happily let her! ” You girls wear this, I don’t need to” would be the line and we’d jump!

Looking back, I feel like we were vultures! So, little wonder that I’m happy I have boys! Another reason why I’m glad we have no daughter is that I could get back home late from work without having to worry whether she's alone at home or out late herself! The way things are, I’d be petrified if she went out after dark or wanted to go for a late night party.  It’s just that women are so vulnerable.  They have a handicap handed down by nature and exploited by men. There’s no way you can fight this or overcome it.  However hard we try to ‘equate’ ourselves with the opposite sex, we will have to fall back a couple of steps. 

When I travel on work, I might sit shoulder to shoulder with my male co-passenger and talk business.  But I have to appeal to him to help me get my bag from the overhead carrier! I have to think twice about catching a late night flight or taking a cab home at odd hours! As I tell my male colleagues, I am not afraid of tigers or bears devouring me- I am more scared of men!

 It’s not that I look upon my sex as something ‘indispensable’ as curd.  It’s just that every time I hear the yell of a male child, I can’t help saying under my breath “You lucky bloke” because he’s bound to have the going good for after all, even we consider him the ‘milk’ of the human race!!