"Is it a boy or girl?"

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Surprises are nice. But, I wouldn't mind knowing the sex of my baby, because I'll be able to prepare myself well in advance," says Sonali Roy, a senior consultant at Resource Management Consultants in Bangalore. Sonali is engaged to an NRI. She hasn't decided when she would like to get into the family way, but she is clear that she would like to find out the baby's sex before delivery.

A picture in contrast is Devina, who exhorts, "Giving birth to life itself is a great achievement for a woman. A child, whether male or female, will always be a child, which is nothing but one's own flesh and blood. So, knowing the sex of the baby is very irrelevant." Devina has been married to an advertising executive for two years and has not yet contemplated starting a family.

The raison d'Être

People prefer several reasons when they want to find out the sex of their baby:
Picking a name beforehand
Buying sex specific clothes
Bonding with the unborn baby
Plain curiosity
And, there are reasons for not finding out as well:
A good surprise
The suspense makes the last stages of pregnancy bearable
"It's a gift of God" syndrome
Do not wish to build prejudices about either sex
Spinning tales

Grandma believed that if a pregnant woman's stomach is well rounded, it is going to be a girl. If her stomach were swollen like a cone, it would be a boy.

Old wives' tales have been abundantly spun in this country. Try this out. If you suspend a needle over the palm of a pregnant woman and it swings in a circle, she is carrying a girl. If it sways back and forth, she is carrying a boy. No prizes for guessing how much of guesswork this method involves.

If you eat something white in the morning the child will be fair.
Eat coconut flower to get a son.
A child born in Krishna Paksh will be dark.
If your tummy itches, your newborn will be hairy.
Pregnant women should not climb stairs.
Eating lots of desi-ghee can ease delivery.
The way you walk can give away the sex of your baby.
However, there are other quite plausible ones in pregnancy which indicates a girl.

A matter of choice

While some believe that it's a question of choice, others argue that it's not right to find out beforehand what creation designed to be a surprise. One eager mother-to-be wishes to know the sex of her child because she wants a girl and if it were going to be a boy, she would like to prepare herself for it. Fair enough! A colleague in my office just doesn't want to know because she "spends a lot of time playing the guessing game and it's great fun".