My Journey through the United States

Copyright © 2022 Dr. Ved V. Gossain.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

ISBN: 978-1-957054-48-3 (Paperback Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-957054-49-0 (Hardcover Edition)

ISBN: 978-1-957054-47-6 (E-book Edition)

Book Ordering Information

Phone Number: 315-537-3088 ext 1007

Email: [email protected]

Global Summit House

www.globalsummithouse.com

Printed in the United States of America

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF

DR. VEENA VIRMANI GOSSAIN

(1942-1978)

Ved V. GOSSAIN MD, FRCP ©, MACP, FACE

Swartz Professor of Medicine and Chief

Division of Endocrinology (Emeritus)

Michigan State University

East Lansing Michigan. U.S.A.

Reviews

"A Chronicle of life that is so deserving of chronicling. It is a primer on how to battle the accident of birth and the misfortunes of life with love, perseverance, and grit. The book makes for a riveting read and many immigrants will see parallels in their own lives

Satish Udpa.

University distinguished Professor of

Electrical and Computer engineering

former acting president

Michigan State University .

East Lansing Michigan. USA .

My Journey Through the United States: Eight Dollars and No Dream is a book of surprises, both painful and exciting. It recounts the inspiring story of a young Indian doctor, as he unfolds a new life in America to become a highly successful academic physician and an exemplary husband and parent. But, as he retires, Dr. Gossain wonders if life would have been better, had they stayed back in India. He asks if this lifelong change was worth it and finds the answer in the ancient wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita. It’s worth reading the book just to learn his solution—one that can guide us all."

Robert C. Smith, MD, MACP

University Distinguished Professor

Emeritus of Medicine and Psychiatry

Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine

By structuring his book using the stages of an immigrant the author frames his journey in a very accessible way. The story he tells of his intellectual and personal journey is intensely relatable centered on the primacy of worthwhile work and the love of family.

Dianne Wagner.MD

Senior Associate Dean, college of Human Medicine

Michigan State University.

East Lansing, Michigan ,USA.

This is a fascinating story of a young physician from India ,who had no intentions of settling in the USA ,but stayed. Despite some misfortunes and many obstacles along the way, he went on to have a highly successful professional career. Everyone, especially immigrants, their children and potential immigrants will learn something from his experience and that is what makes this book worth reading

R.K Pandhi.MD

Formerly, professor and head of the department of

Dermatology All India Institute of Medical sciences

New Delhi , India

Reading this book by Dr. Ved Gossain brings to light the experience of many immigrants from all over the globe to the US. It defines struggles of a first generation caught between two different cultures. It involves giving up older traditions and assimilating new ones. This journey can be challenging but eventually may be rewarding. The text defines various stages of adaptation that an immigrant goes through to reach a stage of stability and relative assimilation and comfort. It is a tug of war between going back to one’s native culture or country versus adjusting to live in a newly adopted one. The book also takes us through personal tribulations and loss of Dr. Gossan’s first wife. The text also compares, and contrasts arranged marriage by family arrangement vs. love marriage with cohabitation. It describes how these two different approaches to marriage have certain advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the book describes how Dr. Gossain rose in the academic ladder to become Chief of Endocrinology and Associate Chair of Medicine at Michigan State University, all this speaking to his courage and skills. However, as many immigrants feel that they are not the prime choice for leadership positions, such as Department Chair. The world is not perfect, and the hope is always that the children of the first-generation immigrant will be better equipped to achieve what could have been due their parents. On a personal note, as an immigrant myself I can identify with much of Dr. Gossan’s experience.

George S. Abela, MD

Professor of Medicine

Chief, division of Cardiology

Michigan State University

East Lansing Michigan. USA

Dr. V. V. Gossan’s My Journey to the United States is a vivid autographical description of an Indian physician who emigrated to United States of America in the mid-1960s and steered his personal and professional life in the new land of opportunity during the next half a century. It is a beautiful commentary on the long process of acculturation which an immigrant and his family accept and adopt to settle in the new culture while firmly preserving their Indian roots at the same time.

Dr. Gossan’s journey begins with understanding of local accent of language, system of medical care and perception of new environment. Completing the required clinical training, beginning with the new medical job, successfully climbing the professional ladder of academic achievements, and finally winning national and international accolades at home and abroad and at the same time raising the family with small kids proved to be an arduous task that any prospective immigrant must be acquainted with.

This autography is a story of diligence, courage, and resilience as well as despair, discrimination, and challenge of bereavement. Despair because of innumerable moments of anguish both at home in India and in the U.S., discrimination because of a self-perception of being a foreigner and above all, into just 10 years in the U.S., the bereavement on account of young Mrs. Gossan’s demise at the age of 36 years due to leukemia leaving two children aged 5 and 6 behind for her husband to care for. This indeed turned the life of entire family topsy-turvy and compelled them to think of going back to India, a dilemma that they somehow tided over. There are so many positive ingredients like nostalgia, happiness and achievements and many not so positive ingredients like moments of sadness, emotional setbacks, and unpleasant sentiments in this autography that the story can be told in innumerable other ways like filmic autography and so on.

The dilemma of bringing up, educating, and settling the children in life was also somehow later solved as Dr. Gossain luckily soon found a highly worthy partner from a family well known to his family. They are now a happy family with three grown up kids well settled in life.

Length of this autography spanning over 160 pages is its real strength and there is much to be learned from repeated readings of this story.

Dr. Vinod Kumar.

Formerly,

Professor of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences. New Delhi,

Expert Advisory Member for Ageing & Health, World Health Organization

Recipient of Life Time Achievement Award in Ageing from Government of India.

Very interesting & engrossing story of an immigrant from India to USA. He came for adventure rather than to fulfill the American dream, about which he had no idea. Imagine a, highly qualified physician ( doctorate in Medicine ) landing at JFK with $8.00 in his pocket, not sure if it will be enough to convey him to his destination. But he did it, keeping his head high. He underwent a partial transformation of his personality, his culture and vocabulary , learning & interpreting conversations in a new way, quite often adding humor in daily life. Returned to India briefly, had an arranged marriage to a physician and started a new chapter of life feeling on the top of the world with 2 children & an inspiring wife. unfortunately, it did not last long when his lovely wife left for heavenly abode at age 36. He has very nicely described his disappointments & struggles in daily and professional life in a university setting but ultimately achieving his goals. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I highly recommend it.

Yash P. Kataria, MD

Professor Emeritus of Medicine : Director, Sarcoidosis Clinic:

Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine

Brody School of Medicine

Foreword

Dr. Ved Gossain and I were introduced in 1986, when I joined the Department of Medicine of the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSUCHM) as a Health Services researcher. He was an astute, candid and gracious new colleague. What I did not know at the time was how his experience in coming to America from India created detours and round-abouts in the journey to becoming a specialist in Endocrinology. The importance of Ved’s story is not just that he succeeded and thrived, it is how he shares his unique journey as an Indian immigrant. While he was poised to succeed anywhere, his training and career path led him through the extra twists and turns of a Foreign Medical Graduate, as we Americans labeled him

My late husband, Dr. David Rovner Professor of Medicine at the university of Michigan was already a highly regarded subspecialist with an international reputation. But he gave that up and moved to MSU CHM to help start a radical new medical school, the first community- integrated medical school, with a curriculum that emphasized a patient-centered philosophy and a biopsychosocial approach to caring for patients. The entire clinical education of medical students took place in community hospitals. When Dave recruited Ved to join the Department in 1975, he found a fellow adventurer, though as Ved’s book reveals, not having a university hospital turned out to limit program development. David and Ved were kindred spirits. They were both highly sought-after clinicians and active research collaborators in a partnership that lasted for a quarter century. During this time, I also came to know Ved very well and this Foreword is from both of us.

Ved’s book invites us to follow him on his journey through the extra hoops to obtain an American medical license, then on to his success as an accomplished clinician, researcher and administrator. He also describes the challenges of marriage, family life and family left behind in that not-quite-American status we often afford immigrant physicians even as they contribute to our health and well-being. Ved’s reflections on his professional and personal journey illustrate how the extra dimension of going through the stages of acculturation shape the parallel experience of the journey from novice to expert physician.

During the time that he was in the USA, he did not forget his roots. He kept in contact with colleagues in India and gave back to his mother land as much as he could. In the 1990s, Ved invited David to join him on a three-week trip to teach continuing medical education courses in endocrinology, in India. While I would not be participating in the courses, I also went along. The trip gave me a taste of several things that figure prominently in the book. One was how it feels to be a foreigner. (In my tennis shoes and London Fog raincoat I was particularly noticeable). Another was the gracious manner of our hosts as they folded us into their activities and showed us the wonders of the cities of Mumbai, Chandīgarh and Hyderabad. And then, his children’s bi-cultural upbringing showed when Ved’s youngest son, about eight years old at the time, insisted we go to McDonald’s for lunch in Delhi.

My husband David died in May 2020. In the last months before David’s death, he enjoyed reading Ved’s manuscript. It allowed him to revisit his and Ved’s years of developing friendship, relying on each other as trusted colleagues to share the responsibilities and vagaries of academic medicine. As David said to me at that time, the best thing I did in my MSU career was to hire Ved Gossain.

Margaret Holmes - Rovner, Ph.D

Prof. Emerita, Health Services Research.

David R.Rovner, MD, FACP

Professor Emeritus, Endocrinology and Metabolism

Preface

America is a land of immigrants. Every year thousands of immigrants come to the US, looking to fulfill their American dream. However, not every immigrant comes looking for the American dream. For those who have an American dream, some get to achieve their dream, and some do not. Regardless of whether the dream is fulfilled or not, every immigrant has a unique story to tell, and mine is not an exception. I arrived in this country as an adventure and to get advanced training in Endocrinology. I did not even know what the American dream was. I had intended to stay in this country for a maximum of three to five years, yet more than 50 years have passed, and I am still here. Coming from India, an entirely different culture and having spent the major part of my life in the US, I believe I have a story to tell, that I hope will be interesting, if not for anyone else then for my children, and possibly grand children who are so unfamiliar with the life and the culture of India. A part of my dream that has been fulfilled, i.e. becoming a professor of medicine, although I never even dreamt that it would be in the USA. My life, both from a professional and a personal standpoint, has had its ups and downs, the major one of which was the death of my spouse early in my career. She was an inspiration and remained so even in her death. The emotional roller coaster that I went through while she was ill and subsequently passed is vividly engraved in my memory. I can close my eyes and still feel those moments. I am therefore dedicating this book to her memory.

1

Introduction

I arrived in this country after having completed, not only my basic medical education (MB,BS which stands for Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) but also having completed a residency in Internal Medicine. It required clinical training and a thesis to obtain an advanced degree in Medicine (M.D., Doctorate in Medicine). Thus, I was a board certified physician by Indian standards, but all that training was not recognized in the USA. Nevertheless, I had a solid foundation of medicine (Internal Medicine to be more specific) and I was able to recognize the basic differences of medical education and medical practice in India versus United States. I have attempted to describe some of those differences. My main objective for coming to the USA was to obtain additional training in Endocrinology (Endocrinology Fellowship),which was not available in India at that time and to return to India after that was completed. Over the years, through additional training I did become a board certified Endocrinologist, but for that I had to repeat three years of Internal Medicine residency that I didn’t think that I needed and three additional years of training in Endocrinology. I have been fortunate to practice that specialty for more than 40 years and I have described some of the experiences I have had, which remain vivid memories even after so many years.

2

Birth in Pakistan

I was the youngest of 9 children, born in a small village in undivided India. The village is now in Pakistan. I was born at home, brought into this world with the help of either my grandmother or the local midwife. There is no official record of my birth. Therefore, I am not even certain about the exact date of my birth. My official birthday was recorded on the first day of my schooling, that is, the day my father decided that I was 5 years old and ready to begin school. My father was a teacher and the only graduate (B.A.) in our large extended family and believed in early education. Consequently, I am quite sure that I must have been about four or 4 ½ years old, and he convinced the school authorities that I was 5 years old and should begin schooling. No official birth certificates were required as the proof of age at that time. The date recorded at the time of admission became my official date of birth. It finally was also included in the high school diploma that I received at the time of graduation from high school. That is the only proof of my date of birth that I have. That date of birth has been accepted as the true date of birth for all official purposes in India and abroad.

I remember our old house with a large compound in the middle, where we all (grandparents, uncles, aunts and several cousins) lived as one large extended family. The family was close knit, to the extent that cousins were not referred to as cousins, but we were all simply brothers and sisters. It would seem that to manage a family of 9 children would be a difficult, if not impossible, task for any mother. However, in this setting it was not a problem at all. There were several aunts in the household who were there to help. Moreover at least three of my five older sisters were like second mothers to me. My memories are that it was fun growing up with cousins. We did not have to go out of the house to look for friends to play with.

In any event, the time of my birth was not particularly an opportune time to be born in that part of the world. The seed for dividing India and creating Pakistan had already been planted, and it was all but inevitable that Pakistan would be created, the only question was when and how. The resolution to create Pakistan was adopted by the Muslim League (the political party responsible for creation of Pakistan) on March 23, 1940. That spot is now marked by a 60-meter-high tower, known as Minar-e-Pakistan, and to this day, March 23rd is celebrated as Pakistan Day in Pakistan (1). Pakistan was finally created on August 14, 1947. The Independence Day for Pakistan is August 14, whereas for India it is August 15. Although it was not planned or anticipated, it led to hundreds of thousands of Muslims migrating to Pakistan from India and hundreds of thousands of Hindus and Sikhs migrating from the newly created Pakistan to now the divided India. It also led to one of the largest civil wars in our history.

Over a million people died in the violence and nearly 14 and a half million people moved both ways across the newly created borders. Muslims were murdering innocent Hindus, and in turn, Hindus were killing innocent Muslims. Atrocities and crimes against humanity of untold proportion were committed.

While the atrocities received worldwide attention, there were also a few heart-warming stories, where many Muslims in Pakistan and many Hindus in India went out of their way, even at great personal risk to their own