“They didn’t give me a room of my own because I was a girl. You know they didn’t even come to see me when I was born because I was the third girl in the family. As a child I have no recollection of my paternal grandparents. You think that’s odd? My weekly dose of grandparently love came every saturday when I used to go to my maternal grandmother’s house, otherwise…

“My mother fought for me and my father supported her. They moved out of a rigid, conventional joint family. If you ask my mother what her possessions are, it’ll be her house, her husband and her daughter in that order.

“And then my mother did the unthinkable, she pulled me out of an all-girls school and sent me to a co-ed boarding. You see me today – smart, confident, progressive, understanding. That’s all because of that.

“Hey, by the way, my GRE was pretty decent. But you know, my cousin is getting married next week and my mother doesn’t want to let everyone know in the family know that I am applying to the US Universities. Most of them still think that you’ve arrived if you make it to the States. And also, if you’re a girl it improves your prospects. It makes me sick.

“Hey, you’ve been hearing me for quite some time. Say something.”

I told her: “I am a boy. I can only attempt to understand…”