Shoba does not have the most understanding parents
Meet Shoba. Shoba is 20 year old devadasi–a slave to some goddess of fertility. As you might guess, a large part of her service involves being some sort of “sanctified” prostitute (note: India made this practice illegal about 50 years ago)
What’s extra twisted is that it’s the devadasi’s parents who give her up when she’s young. For all practical purposes, she’s been bound to service for life with no say in the matter. No one will be willing to marry her, and she won’t have a decent way to make a living. Not only that, any money she earns goes straight to the parents.
Her mother’s response? “Someone had to continue the tradition. It had to be my daughters. Because Shoba earns so much money she has been able to build us a house, and she bought these fields. So what’s the big deal?”
I don’t know, maybe it’s that you’re living comfortably off your daughter’s hopeless, miserable life? Most people would consider that a big deal.
