Ghosts of the Past
GHOSTLY FIGURE When my father passed away, I never imagined that his death would unravel a web of secrets hidden deep within our family. I wasn't particularly close to him—most sons aren't—but I never expected to discover that he had a younger brother, my uncle Kishori , who had been hidden from me all my life. Six days after my father’s funeral, I found myself sitting in a dimly lit room with my grandmother , who struggled with dementia. Her tears flowed freely as she shared fragments of our family's past, but her mind seemed lost, and I couldn’t grasp the gravity of her words until much later. A Sudden Revelation The days following my father's death were filled with confusion. I had rushed home from Kanpur only to discover that our family was not as straightforward as I believed. During the funeral rites , I first laid eyes on Uncle Kishori, a man whose features mirrored my father’s but whose presence felt foreign and unsettling. My mother’s discomfort around h