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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Charlotte Gill

Ending a 20-year rift with my Indian father helped me make sense of my biracial identity

Charlotte Gill today, with long straight black hair and wearing a red top
‘My reconnection to my dad ended a chain of estrangement’: Charlotte today. Photograph: PR

My reunion with my father, after our long estrangement, happened accidentally on purpose. Our paths crossed at a family wedding, the place where grudges are often forged and dissolved.

I attended a casual gathering before the big day and there my eye fell upon my dad who, with his supersized personality, had always lived as a giant in my memory. I was surprised by his senior-citizen hair and general bodily mileage. I was deep into my 30s by then, it had been 20 years, and maybe I also looked diminished, weathered, tired from the long flight. He wore a velvet blazer and a maroon silk shirt, his usual sartorial flamboyance. He had the same smile – the genuine, happy one reserved for frothy social events.

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