Dozen Daughters in Pursuit of a Son (A baby's gender considered a woman's "accomplishment" or "fault")

http://www.myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=6821 CHITWAN, June 28: She used to be sprightly and had an aura among her peers in the neighborhood. But a dozen failed attempts at a son later, 47-year-old Krishna Maya Latoula looks like an elderly. Physically and mentally exhausted, she now lives on medicines to support her ailing body that has taken the toll of her indomitable pursuit of that elusive dream and the nightmarish fallout of her failure. Wed to Dashrath of Kumroj-6 while just 15, she has spent 27 years of her married life pursuing the ultimate dream of a Hindu woman. But she had to finally surrender to the ever-ticking biological clock and have not been able to deliver after the youngest daughter Joshna five years ago. Ironically though, the final blow has brought with it a sense of relief for the mother of a dozen daughters. “I take solace in the fact that I no longer have to go through his physical abuse and snide remarks for failing to conceive a son,” Krishna Maya says with misty eyes. “I endured everything for the son but…,” the emotions take over and she fails to complete the sentence. Living in a joint family with Dashrath´s mother and brother, who ironically has two sons, Krishna Maya has had three of her 10 alive daughters married. The eldest Kala has given a grandson, who lives with Krishna Maya, but that is no consolation for Dashrath. “I had hopes that the son would look after me through my old age, make my name in society and get me across Baitarni (a filthy river on the way to heaven described in Hindu mythology that can only be crossed after rituals performed by a son) but my hopes remain unfulfilled,” Dashrath complains. But Dashrath´s octogenarian mother Laxmi—who still actively heads the middle-class family that owns two tractors, two bigaha of land and a small shop—surprisingly has a different perspective. “There is no difference between a son and a daughter,” Laxmi believes. “Even though I harbored hopes of a grandson, I had advised Dashrath to stop after five. But he did not listen,” she reveals. Dashrath, to his credit, has not neglected his daughters despite being paranoid about having a son. Chanda and Jamuna, like the eldest Kala, have been married while Leela and Sita are studying in the 12th and 11th grades respectively. Ram Maya is in the eighth grade, Shova in seventh, Rama fourth, Durga second and Joshna in kindergarten. “Despite having many daughters, he (father) has never left us short on food and education,” the seventh daughter Shova says. "But he still craves for a son," Shova adds. Krishna Maya knows that craving and empathizes with Dashrath, and even looks to have that feeling of having let him down despite all his criticisms and abuses. “I could have died peacefully only if I had a son,” she completes her earlier sentence. (Sometimes a new wife is obtained in an attempt to resolve this issue, further solidifying the first wife as a failure in the community or leaving her abandoned.)