What They Want

My folks don't consider my emotions. For usual lower-middle class Bihari parents, it's their duty to look after their children, but this ordeal should be a path of least resistance. They adore you as long as you're obedient. Since they're already finding it difficult to survive in their everyday life, raising a child should at least be easy. They expect you to be immensely grateful and become a milking cow in earnest of time so that their social standing becomes stronger. The whole outlook towards life is outward for them, they are driven by societal standards and not by emotional love for themselves or for anyone else. In this situation, if the child becomes romantic by nature, and not someone who just falls in the line drawn by others, that child becomes a sore for them. This is the reason why the success rate is so thin for these families. For them to excel and advance, the only way is to be obedient. A blacksheep is not entertained. He is looked upon as a burden, a liability. Since the child is not allowed to groom his natural urges to experiment, he becomes an impotent force, one which yields nothing. The folks find this to be satisfying, as rather allowing him to go his own way would be risking an unforseen outcome, they would prefer a mule over a wild horse.