Indian Late Discovery Adoptee

I recently had the pleasure of sharing my story with Trishna on her podcast, "The Chai with T," and it was an incredible experience. The conversation flowed effortlessly, and I appreciated how Trishna truly listened and offered insightful follow-up comments and questions. Over the past few years, I've shared my journey in various spaces and platforms, often as a panellist on adoptee panels. However, this was my first time doing a podcast. I've been meaning to do a podcast but felt like I needed to wait for the right moment and the right platform.  I am now finally at a point where I can share my story comfortably. I'm able to speak about my experiences with full acceptance of the things I've lived through, without reliving the trauma. It was especially meaningful to do this on a podcast hosted by another South Asian adoptee. The experience was different from writing about my journey. When I write, I have the time to reflect, edit, and ensure everything is just

Five years ago, on a seemingly ordinary Saturday like today, the results of a DNA test I took for fun shattered my world. For 34 years, I'd built my identity on a foundation of sand. Biracial, half Cuban and half Indian, that's who I was told I was. That Saturday, I was putting my daughter down for a nap when my phone buzzed with those DNA results. I called out to my wife, and together we looked at the results on the screen. Speechless, I stared at the screen. 100% Indian. Thinking about it now, I wasn’t surprised by this. I felt a strange sense of understanding. It explained so much - my upbringing, the outsider feeling I'd carried for years, and so much more. Then came the shock. Shocked by the weight of this revelation. It meant I'd been lied to, deceived repeatedly. I was flooded with all the moments in my life when I questioned the nature of my being, only to be dismissed as imagination. I was gaslighted more times than I can count and made to feel gui