When Billy was leaving Kashmir with her mother for England in 1947, the bald facts were that the plane came and they took off, and that Bhaiji could not see them off, but he was there two days earlier when the flight got cancelled. Now, did he express any affection to his daughter [Billy] who he might not see for a long time, if at all? Did he express any affection to his wife of 10-plus years? Could Billy remember that physical moment? She tried to recollect, because if you can physically describe the parting rather than simply stating the facts, you are able to understand the emotions of the people and relate to them,” documentary maker, television producer and author Siddharth Kak tells mid-day.

Kak is speaking about his late grandfather Ram Chandra Kak, the Kashmiri Pandit prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who was separated from his family, after he was ousted by Maharaja Hari Singh, and put behind bars on the eve of India and Pakistan’s independence. Over the decades, the blame for Maharaja Hari Singh’s indecision regarding Kashmir’s position has been laid at the feet of Kak’s grandfather. But, the truth has many layers, he feels.