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How a Girl from Netkal Village Realized her American Dream

Dr. Pallavi Gowda

The journey took me through the rural Midwest, poverty, assimilation, anxieties and
the U.S. Army.

As South Asians, what brings us to America? The simple fact is that it is truly, the ‘land
of the opportunity.’ Nowhere else can a little girl from a village in Karnataka, dream of
becoming a United States Army officer and physician. It is no wonder that people from
every part of the world flock to the United States to build better lives. My story is that of
achieving the American dream.

Where It All Began

Forty-two years ago, in rural Karnataka, my mother was faced with a life or death
Karnataka, my
decision when she was pregnant with her third child. Due to prior illness and a lack of
healthcare infrastructure in place, she fought to bring me into this world. But she died
hours later. Her younger sister, who barely knew my father, saw three motherless girls.
That inspired her to marry my father and sacrifice having her own children. She is the
only Amma I know. My father had completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry in Mysore, and
had an opportunity to come to the U.S. for a temporary position in Norfolk, Virginia.
My parents brought with them my sister who was two years older to me, to the United
States.

My immediate family faced first-generation immigrant struggles such as employment
opportunities, housing placement, transportation issues, cultural differences, and, overall,
prejudice. I, on the other hand, grew up in my father’s remote village of Netkal till the
age of five. I then moved to Mysore with my mother’s family for a year before coming to
the U.S. at the age of six. Before I arrived in the U.S., I pictured a place so wealthy that

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