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Bridging the Cultural Gap My Memoir
sam gupta, author
Can the vast cultural gap that exists between a conservative Caucasian Hindu from India and a divorced Christian Caucasian woman from America be bridged? Can such an intercultural marriage stand the stress and test of time?
This memoir answers these questions. My wife, Carol, and I come
from vastly different cultures and have been married for 50 years. I,
a conservative north Indian Hindu came to America for higher education
in 1966; married Carol, a divorced white Caucasian American
with a daughter. We violated all Hindu and Indian customs of an
arranged marriage; dashed my parents’ hopes and expectations of the
most eagerly anticipated marriage of their eldest son; raised a family
In America; executed the duties of the eldest Hindu son by helping
my siblings settle in America; started several successful and failing
businesses; participated actively in the American political system; experienced
the American legal processes as a defendant and as a plaintiff;
experienced close brush with possible bankruptcy; were on the
FBI radar for about one year; appeared before the Grand Jury; experienced
the dark and sinister side of the American gun culture personally.
With Carol’s help, I melded very well in America and became a well
dissolved bean in the multi-bean soup that is the American society.
Carol and I have bridged the vast cultural gap that existed between
us in 1968, when we met, by both of us adjusting, making
some changes, and making this intercultural marriage successful.