Return to Transcripts main page

Sanjay Gupta MD

Sanjay Gupta's "Roots"

Aired November 29, 2014 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: All right. I've never done this before, so here we go.

The people back home are so jealous.

DAMYANTI GUPTA, SANJAY GUPTA'S MOTHER: Yes.

S. GUPTA: You're probably wondering what's happening right now. Well, so was I. Truth of it is fun of this was supposed to happen -- beach, the camel ride, returning to a country my mother fled 70 years ago as a refugee.

Did you ever think you would be doing this?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: I was not planning on this.

SANJAY GUPTA: It's going to be a journey of surprises.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: What are you thinking right now?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: It's amazing. I can't believe it. I can't believe it.

SANJAY GUPTA: You never thought you'd come here.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Never. Never. Thank you. Yes.

Now, I'm back with my son after 67 years.

SANJAY GUPTA: Right. I'm not 67, just to be clear.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: No. I'm back. I'm back after 67 years. In between -- the other things happened because I was only 5, you cannot be 67.

SANJAY GUPTA: Right.

I tell people that my mom was a refugee when she was a young person.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: I'm still a refugee. I never got set us back.

SANJAY GUPTA: My mom was a survivor of one of the bloodiest partitions in our world's history -- the religious wars between Hindus and Muslims, in India and Pakistan.

You left everything you own.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Everything we own because we did not know how long and where we are going, we did not know that also. I tell you one good thing happened out of all this, you know, when you take a ball and you hit hard, it goes up high. The harder you hit, that it goes up, right?

SANJAY GUPTA: Well, here you are.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: We are in Tharu Shah.

SANJAY GUPTA: This is it. This is your roots.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: The roots is back in.

SANJAY GUPTA: We get out.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Sure.

SANJAY GUPTA: Let's take a look.

It's hard to believe but my mom hasn't been back here in 70 years. She hasn't seemed to miss a beat though. She's asking right now in Sindi (ph), if anybody in the small village recognizes her maiden name, Hingorani.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

DAMYANTI GUPTA: This is my Tharu Shah.

SANJAY GUPTA: So you walk through here, does anything looks familiar?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: I think those -- that's (inaudible) looks familiar and that those doors, they looks familiar.

SANJAY GUPTA: These doors over here.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes, this -- one of these doors can be my house.

SANJAY GUPTA: Really?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: You want to knock and take a look?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: We can try, see if somebody will open.

SANJAY GUPTA: It's worth the shot. We've come all this way.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: I see some movement back there.

They welcome her. She thinks this might be our house. DAMYANTI GUPTA: We used to have like this.

SANJAY GUPTA: Courtyard like this?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Courtyard like this and the string used to sit like in this one portion.

SANJAY GUPTA: Is that right?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: So what do you think?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: It's amazing. Can you believe it? I lived in some place like this.

SANJAY GUPTA: Do you think that this is your house?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Something, if not exactly same house but something similar. It may be same house.

SANJAY GUPTA: Does that look familiar?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Something like that used to be there. Temple we used to visit.

SANJAY GUPTA: Is that right?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: It really strikes me to think that my ancestors used to go there and pray.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Pray. That's only temple out there in town. Not one generation but several thousand years they were here.

SANJAY GUPTA: That's extraordinary. That's our history.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yep.

SANJAY GUPTA: You know, the thing is history has a strange way of repeating itself. All the violence that my mom thought that she had left behind, well, I was about to see it for myself. In a country that is still unsettled seven decades later.

JONATHAN MANN, CNN ANCHOR: But, first, word that that international airport in Pakistan's largest city Karachi is under attack right now by unidentified militants.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREW STEVENS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get to our breaking news story, now the attack on Karachi's international airport.

SANJAY GUPTA: That's the same airport that we were supposed to fly out just hours from then. And instead, we stayed up all night reporting live on what started to happen.

These militants are literally cutting through barb wire, trying to get through this fence and that's what sparked a gun fight between commandos who patrol this 24-hour, seven-day-a-week airport, and these militants.

People said you should wake up your mom, you know, she's in the middle of a terrorist attack. The city is on lockdown. Mom's asleep.

And the next morning, we all come down, just like -- you know, she's there and on time, we're late, of course, because we've been up all night. She says I thought we were all going to meet at 9:00. I said, I didn't get a chance to tell you this, but there was actually a terrorist attack on the airport last night. She said, yes, but we were supposed to meet at 9:00.

But, you know, despite everything that was going on, I still got to do one of the most amazing things on this trip, take a stroll with my mom on Karachi beach.

I mean, you left your homeland into these waters and never came back.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Never came back in 67 years.

SANJAY GUPTA: I look at this kind of water in the ocean and I think it's beautiful, and I want to grab my surfboard and go out and surf. You look at that water and you see what?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: I see this is the water took me from this land.

SANJAY GUPTA: Took you away.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Took me away from my home.

SANJAY GUPTA: And these are the very steps my mom and her parents and grandparents stepped down before getting on a cargo ship bound for Bombay. These were awful times and the partition of India was in full swing.

When think about getting in a cargo ship at age 5, very uncomfortable, not knowing where I'm going, not knowing if I'm going to be safe, having just left everything that I owned in the world behind. I think I would be sick to my stomach. I mean, it would make me --

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Sure, but I had a very brave mother.

SANJAY GUPTA: Your mother?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: My mother. She reminded me every day we have lost everything but we have our courage. And we are not going to give up.

SANJAY GUPTA: So, once you're force to leave your home, then -- DAMYANTI GUPTA: All the while it's your home.

SANJAY GUPTA: While my mom's family was forced to move from Tharu Shah to Karachi, to Bombay, Bangalore and then Baroda, my dad's family literally lived in the same place for thousands of years.

So, we've finally arrived here. Hard to believe what you're looking sat the older place so we can trace my father's ancestry. It's called Dube (ph), India, and these are the people who still live here.

(INAUDIBLE)

SANJAY GUPTA: It was a hero's welcome everywhere dad went. Some big crowds.

SUBHASH GUPTA, SANJAY GUPTA'S FATHER: They were not because of me.

SANJAY GUPTA: But I think a lot of it was because of our great grandfather, because he donated a lot of land for the temples and he was a pretty charitable person, which was interesting because you can hear somebody's name, you can hear their -- where they lived but then when you get a little bit of an idea of what kind of person they were, that's really fascinating.

As you can see, they literally rolled out the red carpet for my father and I. Meeting hundreds of relatives I didn't even know I had. They even put up a sign, my grandfather. (INAUDIBLE)

They're welcoming CNN. They say I'm a renowned neurosurgeon, a little more credit than I deserve. But they've welcomed us into their home. Let's take a look.

Any of this look familiar to you?

SUBHASH GUPTA: All of this has changed completely. If I remember, there were stairs going up from here.

SANJAY GUPTA: These are the stairs right here. What's that?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Completely renovated.

SANJAY GUPTA: So, it's different.

The idea that I tell my friends that my parents came from the other side of the world and various small towns and villages, I mean, this is it.

SUBHASH GUPTA: This is -- this is the very spot.

SANJAY GUPTA: It's kind of humbling, right?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Very humbling.

SANJAY GUPTA: Started with nothing.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Yes. SANJAY GUPTA: When you finally went to the United States, how much

did you have with you and what did you -- what were you able to take?

SUBHASH GUPTA: (INAUDIBLE), the idea that, my father made 600 rupees a month.

SANJAY GUPTA: He made 600 rupees a month, and he needed to send you with 10,000 rupees.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Right, right.

SANJAY GUPTA: That's more than a year's worth of --

SUBHASH GUPTA: More than a year. Two years to save (INAUDIBLE) that money.

SANJAY GUPTA: That's incredible.

SUBHASH GUPTA: I said, it's big step, father (ph).

SANJAY GUPTA: Yes.

We were about to take the biggest step in our own journey. Who were my ancestors? What kind of people were they? We found the key that could help unlock the answers to some of those questions.

It's amazing, so with all the technology, all the things that exist in the world today, these handwritten scrolls may be some of the best records of our own family tree.

SUBHASH GUPTA: That is absolutely correct.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUBHASH GUPTA: This place is called Haridwar. This is a very sacred place. And they're sacred as River Ganges. (INAUDIBLE) all the way to the Indian Ocean.

You can see a lot of people come here to bathe and it's considered very holy.

SANJAY GUPTA: Does the Gupta family feel a connection to this place?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Well, we came here lots of time when I was younger.

SANJAY GUPTA: You see, in the United States we record our lives at the time that we are born. But centuries ago in many places including India, they recorded their lives at the time of death. That's why so many people bring the ashes of their loved ones to scatter here in this holy river.

SUBHASH GUPTA: They keep a lot of records over the years, so you can go back several generations and find out who all came here.

SANJAY GUPTA: So, here it is, perhaps the most important moment of our whole journey, and there's my daughter Soleil fast asleep, passed out in my wife's lap. Now, in her defense it was well over 100 degrees in that room and there was no fan, no breeze.

So back to 1698. We went back. That's how far it was?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And that's the lunar year.

SUBHASH GUPTA: That's 1698.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's even before that.

SANJAY GUPTA: So it's even before that.

So roughly, how many years back are we talking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: About 1600.

SANJAY GUPTA: About 1600.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: These records go back 40 generations. That's quite incredible. They started off writing on leaves. And when paper was actually created, they started writing on paper. And some of these records here go back hundreds and hundreds of years.

We came here, to find our roots. And today we decided to leave some of our own as well. Perhaps our own family will see this hundreds of years from now.

(CHANTING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

SANJAY GUPTA: Do you feel a certain connection to the gods and -- what do you feel?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Yes, you do feel closer to the gods over here.

SANJAY GUPTA: The last time you were here was when your father passed away.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: And it was important for you and your brother to come here and place the ashes here.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Right, right.

SANJAY GUPTA: What is the meaning of that? What is the purpose of that?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Well, they just feel that this is -- this is getting the salvation.

SANJAY GUPTA: So, you think you want to cleanse your sins in the river?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Well, I'm debating, but I've been fortunate enough so --

SANJAY GUPTA: Are you debating whether you want to go or debating whether you have sins?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Well, I'm sure we have some sins.

SANJAY GUPTA: We all have sins.

You ready?

There's something about searching for your roots that forces you to have experiences like that one with your parents and with your kids. But, you know, you're probably wondering how did I come into this whole equation? Well, it's something that I alluded to when I gave commencement address at my alma mater, the University of Michigan.

You see not only was the foundation for most of my life conceived in this town, I myself was likely conceived in this town. Best bet is the 17th floor of the university towers though no one is talking for sure still even after 43 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANJAY GUPTA: What does this mean to you being here?

SUBHASH GUPTA: It's always amazing when I come here. It just looks like it happened yesterday.

SANJAY GUPTA: It's safe to say this is the first place you arrived in the United States.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Yes, that is correct.

SANJAY GUPTA: Were you scared? Were you nervous? I mean --

SUBHASH GUPTA: The truth that I didn't know what the hell was coming next. Just like sometimes jump into the lake and you just let it go and say whatever happens happens.

SANJAY GUPTA: Right. Right.

And, boy, do things happen. Sometimes when you least expect them. And in this case, at the corner of South University and South Forest Avenue in Ann Arbor, it's quite a story. Buckle your seat belts.

So, your car broke down right around here?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes. Just maybe a block from here. And I was looking for a pay phone. SANJAY GUPTA: So she find a pay phone and find a phone book and

starts leafing through it to see the first Indian name that she can find. Truthfully, I'm not so sure through the phone book she would have gone, but it turned out to be a moot point because someone answered the phone after that first ring. It wasn't the person she was trying to call, but it was that guy's roommate, her future husband, my dad.

You remember this like crystal clear?

SUBHASH GUPTA: Crystal clear.

SANJAY GUPTA: So an accidental phone call and you guys end up --

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Meeting.

SANJAY GUPTA: Meeting. Getting married.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Yes.

And there you have it.

SANJAY GUPTA: Right. Right. Is that a good part of the story or a bad part of the story?

DAMYANTI GUPTA: It was the best part of the story.

SANJAY GUPTA: And the rest is history.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: The rest is history.

SANJAY GUPTA: It's good history.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: But I can say that my roots started right here.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: That's right.

SANJAY GUPTA: For sure.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: No doubt.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: No doubt.

SANJAY GUPTA: he young couple needed jobs, and they found them at a booming Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan.

So, you really just walked in.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: I just walked through those things.

SANJAY GUPTA: August 1967.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: August 1967. And when I came this person looked at my resume and he says, are you applying for engineering job? And I said, anything wrong with that? And he said, but we don't have any woman engineers working here. I said, well, if you don't give me a chance you won't have any.

SANJAY GUPTA: And she did become the first woman engineer ever at the Ford Motor Company.

When you finally were hired, the person who hired you told you to do something on the spot.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: He says, I cannot pronounce your name so that's the time my name became Rani except of Damyanti.

SANJAY GUPTA: Which I should point out means "queen" in Hindi. Not sure what my mom was trying to say but I think there's a metaphor in there somewhere.

My dad, he also got sick of spelling his name every time someone asked so he decided to change it as well.

That's when you became Sam.

SUBHASH GUPTA: I say this is it, now I'm back to Subhash.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Back to Subhash and Damyanti now.

SANJAY GUPTA: So how big part of your roots would you say this place is?

SUBHASH GUPTA: You know, my good part of my life I worked here for Ford 34 years. And I think about, 20-some years, 24 years, I worked in this building.

SUBHASH GUPTA: It's pretty amazing.

SANJAY GUPTA: Everything for us and my brother and now my kids -- I mean, this place made that possible in some ways.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

SUBHASH GUPTA: Life is a journey. You go through it. And you go through every phases of it. Each one of those phases becomes a root for somebody, maybe not for you but maybe for your generations down.

SANJAY GUPTA: I think more than any other place in my life this is where I grew I think as a person. I think I came here as a 16-year- old kid and, you know, I left here as a neurosurgeon.

And today the operating room is where I still feel most at home. But what about my mom? Was that really her home? We may never know. But I realized it hardly mattered because, you see, my mom was suddenly a kid again.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: This is what I used to do in '67. Not bad, right?

SANJAY GUPTA: Pretty good. You haven't lost your touch.

And for my dad it became clear that home would always be wherever his family was. That's the way it is for most of us. Home is a feeling for me, for my parents, for all of us.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: There are two tracks, one for coming and one for going.

SANJAY GUPTA: I think it suddenly strikes you that in order to really understand where you're going, you have to understand from where you came.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: You came from. Yes.

SANJAY GUPTA: That makes sense, huh? Now it makes more sense than ever.

DAMYANTI GUPTA: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)