Bhanu Kanwar is just one of the two girls in her class of 22. The situation is graver than just low literacy levels for girls. Hardly any girls are allowed to live on birth in these areas.

Vimla Devi was one of the lucky few to have a son as her first child. Post two girls after, the pressure to have a second son is immense.

Rajmala was married to Sunil when she was 13. Six pregnancies later she still awaits a son. For her last pregnancy the doctor had assured her a boy on getting the ultrasound done, but as fate would have it the baby turned out to be a girl.

Rajmala at home.

Urmila is celebrating the birth of her son finally. She has four daughters and three fell victims to sex selective abortions. Mamta, her eldest, has grown up looking after her sisters as her forever pregnant mother could not even breast-feed the girls for long in her race to have a son.

Meva Devi is a 50-year-old woman of a village in the Rohtak district of Haryana state who allegedly just gave birth to a 10 year-old son 16 years after she gave birth to the last of her 7 girls. The murmurs of the villagers suggest the baby was bought. The paediatrician share stories that one of his clients begged him to sell his son quoting that he was worth Rs.1 lakh.

Anu is one of the 5 girls brought in for paediatric OPD out of the 42 patients admitted that day. She is a grade 3 high-risk case of malnourishment and weighs just 70% of her expected weight. Her mother Kavita desperately wants a son and is still trying.

Balvir a 40 year-old-driver has just got himself a 25-year-old girl from the state of Bengal. His brothers already have one each from Orissa. He professes being able to get a wife for anybody who has Rs 5000 to give. Most girls are from poorer states and do not contract a legal marriage. They are often treated like slaves and fertility machines.

Many girls like Tania abandoned by their parents end up in homes like this.

Kaushalya Yadav has 7 alive daughters. In the want for a son her husband allegedly insisted on 3 ultrasounds and abortions. For her last pregnancy he refused to foot the bill. Once it was clear that it was to be a girl yet gain she was kicked out. Her last daughter Sonia was born on the streets and died two months later. Kaushalya now shares quarters with many mentally challenged women in the Government Short stay home at Rohtak.

Dharampal and his wife Phoolo, respectively 70 and 65, live in the same village as their two sons who havent checked in on them even in sickness. The myth that sons will look after them, which was the solace when they had them, is soon breaking for many.