It's a girl

Isn't it such a shame that even in this day and age we have people who actually differentiate between having a son and a daughter? I would like to give civilization a bit more credit than that. But it exists in the minds of a lot of people which manifests in several different ways. There are folks who make no pretense whatsoever about their preference of a son when it comes to having a baby, especially if it is a first born. I would come across hundreds of women and their families when I was working in the Ob-Gyn department in a Park Circus hospital, who would literally cry after a delivery on finding out that the baby was a girl and not the much desired son. It would make me indignant but I used to fool myself into believing that the mentality had something to do with social strata and education of the people I was encountering. I soon realized that it was not the case. I have met highly educated, well ranked officials and their wives who are equally qualified and educated and finacially independent, who have explicitly expressed their desire of having a son and not a daughter. "Bongsher naam rokha" and all kinds of crap get tossed around.
And then there is the other kind of people who harbor similar desires and yet pretend to be liberal when it comes to the sex of their child. I spoke to a couple last week who are expecting their first baby and just found out that it's a girl. I heard the news and called them up, excited, wanting to share my joy with them. Except, this guy tells me something like oh yeah he's happy and excited but his family back in India think that he is disappointed because it is a girl. And then he went on to add that he did not think there was any difference between a girl or a boy. The mere fact that he mentioned all this really jolted me and I realized here again was the same thing, the same old story of girl/ boy except now it was being robed in hypocrisy. It made me sick.
Wouldn't people be better off worrying about whether the baby will be healthy and normal rather than festering their prejudices regarding the sex of the child? I would like to imagine that our education and advancement has been able to enlighten our mind and broaden our perspective enough to be able to rid ourselves of ancient prejudices and be worthy of being blessed with a child.
Then again I should not be generalizing because there are a lot of people who have uplifted themselves from these social pressures and are genuinely glad to have a baby, no matter what the sex is. More power to them!