om entered the room and saw gauri sitting up. he stops her and says: don’t sit up. careful.
gauri does as she is told without questioning him.
om: so do you want anything?
gauri silently shook her head. om smiled and said: AC?
gauri in a whisper: no.
om: why are you so quiet?
he pulls her cheeks lightly. gauri feels nervous.
gauri: what happened?
om: you are pregnant gauri.
gauri: what?
om: you are pregnant!
gauri smiled but inside she was scared. she had already four pregnancies in the past and all of them have resulted to girls. if this one was a girl then god knows what would happen.
gauri: if it is a girl….
om: it won’t be a girl! promise me gauri that this time you will do whatever i tell you in order to give me a son.
gauri nods with fear.
om: and if you listen to me, then it will be a boy!
gauri: why do you want a boy so much?
om was silent and then said: a boy will be my successor. a boy makes life perfect. i need a son that’s all! a daughter is useless for me! now look insiya is 14, soon her marriage will be arranged and she will go and give her husband children. that’s what a girl’s job is in life: marriage and children! a son’s job in life is different.
gauri: why are you planning to get insu married? she is only young. please don’t marry her off.
om: i’ll think about it!
insiya heard this from outside. tears rolled down her cheeks hearing what her father said.
insu’s POV:
why papaji? why can’t you accept me as you daughter? why can’t you accept my sisters as your daughters? and as long as this marriage is concerned, why? i am only young and i don’t want to marry now. i don’t want to meet the same fate as ammi.
precap: suspicions on conceiving a son