My father passed away when I was only fifteen years old, and I did not have the chance to ask him all the questions I wanted to, as I was finding my way through Life. Add to that, the fact that both my parents migrated from pre-partition India when they were just children, meant that there was very little “family history” to access, except for anecdotes shared occasionally by the family elders.

After my mum passed away last year, I had to go through many files filled with old documents, to figure out what was worth keeping and what could be discarded. Little did I know that I would learn many aspects of my past through those yellowed pages.

In those files, I learnt of my great grandfather’s name, what my grandfather used to do for a living, a few unknown attributes of my mom and dad’s school life and later years, as well as the fact that my grandfather had actually purchased an insurance policy way back in 1939! I also found out that my connection to the city of Lucknow goes deeper than I’d previously known.

I have shared all the specifics with my children, but am refraining from posting them online in the interest of privacy and to prevent potential misuse.

I am still unsure of the origins of my family name – Bachwani – though, and can find very little information on it. So if any reader knows of its origins, I will be grateful if you can contact me.

P.S. If you don’t know about your past and still have access to someone who can tell you, ask them today.