India, March 8 -- My dearest A,

When I became pregnant with you, my third baby, people had a lot to say. "Why a third child? Ah oh, we get it now - your first two are girls, so you must want a son."

Such comments bothered me.

As a young woman in her early thirties, it had seemed to me that the country was progressing well, and that people were moving to value their daughters. At IIM Calcutta, where I studied management, the girls in my batch were competent and spirited - each supported by their families. In Mumbai where we moved for work, women were respected in a way that never happened in Delhi.

But now it seemed nothing had changed. At Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital, the nurses proffered their commiserations when your elder sisters...