They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies That Raised Us

by Prachi Gupta

The difference in treatment between son and daughter would ripple through generations, one learning entitlement, the other learning injustice. One sibling would lean into nostalgia for lost culture to justify his behavior, while the other would struggle to reclaim her lost culture, observing how tradition was so often invoked to evade accountability and prevent change.

Everywhere I went, people saw me as Indian. But India was the only place in the world I felt American.

Maybe love was simpler than I thought: Maybe it was a willingness to witness someone, to be curious and empathize with them, as they are.

Unless we choose to face it, grief folds us inward and pushes us deep into our own pockets of suffering, intensifying our pain and further isolating us from those we love. There is no hack, no quick fix, no step-by-step solution to navigate grief. We only have ourselves, and one another, to make it through.