When discussing the first generation in this situation, I am referring to Babli's father, Mr. Bhowmick. He is a religious, superstitious, and very traditional man. Mr. Bhowmick follows a strict schedule, prays to his Indian goddess, Kali-Mata, and has a very traditional view of how his family should be. He is supposed to be the head of the family and the women are supposed to be submissive to him. Mr. Bhowmick admits in the story that Babli is not the child he would have expected to leave as his only heir. She is financially stable and is dependable to her father in that sense, however she is not as dependable as a comforting, loving daughter.
The second generation is Babli in this case. Babli is a twenty-six year old, who still lives with her parents and works as an electrical engineer. Girls are expected to live at home until they are married. When Mr. Bhowmick discovers the possibility of Babli being pregnant, he makes many assumptions about how she got pregnant before he even speaks with her about it. He assumes that she will give him a grandson, that she is with a white boy, that possibly she went off and got married, or maybe she was raped at the office. He wants to believe that any one of these possibilities happened rather than be understanding of his daughter's wishes to have a baby without a man.
Mr. Bhowmick and his daughter do not have a close relationship. Babli is very independent and is capable of supporting herself. She essentially does not need her father's help for anything. Her father does not like this about her. He feels that she should depend on him until she is married, at which time she will depend on her husband. When he finds that Babli may be pregnant, he decides that perhaps she has found a man to support her and this excites him. I think that the fact that he would rather find that his daughter has been raped than hear that she has been inseminated is absolutely absurd. He is so stubborn and feels so strongly about his beliefs that he would approve of her being raped before inseminated. That is unbelievable to me. When people have children, they should be accepting to who their children become and what they believe. There is only so much they can teach them, and after awhile there is a point where you need to step back and let them go in the direction they choose.
I admire Babli for doing what she did. I have strong opinions about women's rights and how they should be treated the same as men. I do not think that women should be underestimated by any means. Nowadays women can do anything that men can, but often times in many cultures, there are still people with the old-fashioned sense that women are below men, cannot work as proficiently as men, and cannot do the same tasks as men can. However, we are in America, home of the free and the brave, and that means that we have rights and can do anything that we set our minds to. I think that women have proven over time that we can definitely pull our own weight. We are capable of anything and we will not stop until we reach our goals and dreams, no matter what obstacles are in our way. Babli is a true hero in this story. She stands up for what she believes and does what she feels is right. She wanted a baby and she didn't see the need for a man to help her make that happen. Babli is an inspiration to women who read this story.
