and the faa administrator will be on "state of the union" tomorrow morning to talk more about that. "cnn newsroom" continues at the top of the hour. next on cnn dr. sanjay gupta takes his family on a trip halfway around the world to uncover his roots. all right. i've never done this before. there you go. ♪ the people back home will be so jealous. >> yeah. >> you're probably wondering what's happening right now. well, so was i. truth is, none of this was supposed to happen. the beach, the camel ride, the trip to karachi with my mother. returning to a country that she had fled 70 years ago as a refugee. did you ever think you'd be doing this? >> i was not planning on this. >> it's going to be a journey of surprises i think. >> yes. ♪

>> what are you thinking right now? >> it's amazing i can't believe it. i can't believe it. >> you never thought you'd come back here? >> never. never. yep. now i'm back with my son after 67 years. >> right. i'm not 67 just to be clear. >> no, i'm back. i'm back after 67 years. in between then other things happened because i was only 5, you cannot be 67. >> right. i tell people that my mom is a refugee when she was a young person. >> i'm still a refugee. i never got the status back. >> 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 owned. >> everything we owned just because we did not know how long and when 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 higher. how do you hit, it goes up, right. >> well, here you are. >> we are in tarusha. >> this is it. this is your -- this is your roots. >> this is the roots. it's where i came. >> you want to get out? >> sure. >> let's do it. 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 in her language if anybody in the small village recognizes her maiden name. hingorani.

>> this is my tarusha. >> so, you walk through here. does anything look familiar? >> i think that looks familiar and those doors there look familiar. >> these doors over here? >> yeah, one of these doors can be my house. >> really? >> yeah. >> you want to knock and take a look? >> we can try and see if somebody will open. >> it seems a shame. we've come all this way. i see some movement back there. >> they welcome her. she thinks this might be her house. >> we used to have like this. >> courtyard like this? >> courtyard like this and a swing used to sit, like, in this one portion. >> is that right? >> yeah. >> so what do you think? >> it's amazing. can you believe i lived in some place like this.

>> you think that this was your house? >> not exactly same house but something similar. it may be same house. ♪ >> does this look familiar? >> something like that used to be there, temple we used to visit. >> is that right? >> yeah. >> for some reason it's i think it really strikes me to think that my ancestors used to go there and pray. >> pray. that's the only temple was there in town. that's how they lived. isn't that funny, not just one generation but several thousand years they were here. >> it's extraordinary. it's a -- that's our history. >> yeah. >> 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. >> but first word that the international airport in

pakistan's largest city karachi is under attack right now by unidentified militants. hey! i guess we're going to need a new santa ♪(the music builds to a climax.) more people are coming to audi than ever before. see why now is the best time. audi will cover your first month's payment on select models at the season of audi sales event. visit audioffers.com today.

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let's get back to our breaking news story the attack on karachi's international airport. >> that's the same airport that we were supposed to fly out just hours from now instead we stayed up hours reporting on live on what was happening. the militants are cutting through barbed wire to try to get through the fence and it sparked a gunfight between

comondos that patrol the 24-hour, seven day a week airport and militants. people said you should wake up your mom, she's in the middle of a terrorist attack and the city's on lockdown. mom's asleep and the next morning we all come down she's, like, she's 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 didn't get a chance to tell you this but there was actually a terrorist attack on the airport last night. she said, yeah, 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 until today. >> never came back until 67 years. >> i look at this kind of water, the ocean, and i think it's beautiful. >> yes. >> i think i want to grab my surfboard and i want to go out there and surf. >> yes. >> you look at that water and you see what? >> i see the -- that this is the

water took me away from this land. >> took you away. >> took me away from my home. >> and these are the very steps that my mom and her parents and her 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 i think about getting in a cargo ship at age 5 -- >> yes. >> -- 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 -- >> sure. but i have a very brave mother. >> your mother? >> my mother. she reminded me every day, we had lost everything but we have our courage and we are not going to give up. >> so, once you're forced to leave your home, then -- >> the whole world is your home. >> while my mom's family was

forced to move to karachi to bombay and bangalore and other places, my dad's family has lived in the same place for thousands of years. we've finally arrived here, it's hard to believe, what you're looking at here is the oldest place we can trace my father's ancestry back to, it's called dob, india, and these are the people that still live here. ♪ it was a hero's welcome

everywhere dad went. big crowds. >> they were not because of me. >> but i think a lot of it was because of our great grandfather because he donated a lot of the land for the temples and it looked like he was a pretty charitable person which it was interesting because you can hear somebody's name, you can hear 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 that i had. they even put up a sign here, my great grandfather and my grandfath grandfather, they are welcoming cnn. they are saying that i'm a renowned neurosurgeon and give me far more credit than i deserved but they welcomed us into the home. let's take a look. any of this look familiar to you? >> well, all the construction

changed completely. but if i remember well, they are still going up from here. >> these are the stairs probably right here. >> yeah, maybe. >> what's that? so it's different. the idea that i, you know, tell my friends that my parents came from the other side of the world in very small towns and villages. >> yes. >> this is it. >> this is the very spot. >> it's kind of humbling, right? >> very humbling. >> you started with nothing. >> yep. >> 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? what was your savings? >> there were probably my father used to make 600 rupees a month. he made 600 rupees a month and he needed to send you with

10,000 rupees. that's more than a year. >> more than a year. he worked two years the saving that we talked about to save that money. >> it's incredible. >> it was a big step for him. >> yeah. we were about to take the biggest step in our own journey. who were my ancestors? what kind of people were they? we found a key that could help unlock the answers to some of those questions. it's amazing so with all of the things written today the handwritten scrolls may be the only record of our family tree.

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visit comcast.com/wireless to learn more. ♪ this place is a very sacred place and the reason it's sacred

the ganges goes all the way to the indian ocean and you can see that a lot of people they come here to bathe. and it's very holy. >> does the gupta family feel a connection to this place? >> we came here lots of time when i was younger. >> you see, the united states we record our lives at the time that we were 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. >> they keep lot of records over here so you can go back several generations and find out who all came here.

>> so here it is. perhaps the most important moment of our whole journey. and there's my daughter, solet, fast asleep, passed out, really, in my wife's lap. 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. >> 1698 is not the -- >> it's even before that. >> calendar year. >> so it's even before that. >> yeah. >> so roughly how many years back are we talking? >> about 1600. >> about 1600. >> yes.

>> these records go back 40 jen ranges. it's quite incredible. they started out 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've decided to leave some of our own as well. perhaps our own family will see this hundreds of years from now. ♪ ♪ >> do you feel a certain connection to the gods and what do you feel? >> yeah, you do feel closer to the god over here. >> the last time you were here

was when your father passed away. >> yeah. >> and it was important for you and your brother to come here and place the ashes here. >> right. right. >> what is the meaning of that? what is the purpose of that? >> well, they just feel that this is a -- this is a -- getting the salvation. >> so, you think he wanted -- you want to cleanse your sins in the river? >> well, i'm not debating, but i've been -- >> are you debating whether you want to go or debating whether you have sins? >> well, i'm sure i got some sins. >> 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 the commencement address at mial ma matter at the university of michigan. you see 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 after 43 years.

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what does this mean to you, being here? >> always amazing when i come here. it just looks like it happened yesterday. >> it's safe to say this is the first place you arrive in the united states? >> that's correct. >> were you scared? were you nervous? i mean -- >> i didn't know what the hell was coming next. i just -- i just -- like sometimes jump into the lake and you just let it go and say, well, whatever happens, happens. >> 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? >> yeah. just maybe a block from here and i was looking for a pay phone.

>> so she finds a pay phone and finds a phone book and starts leafing through it to see the first indian name that she can find. truthfully i'm not so sure how far 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? >> crystal clear. >> so an accidental phone call and you guys end up -- >> meeting. >> -- meeting. getting married. >> yeah. >> yes. >> and then you happen. >> right. >> is that a good part of the story or a bad part of the story? >> that was the best part of the story. >> well, then, the rest is history as they say. >> the rest is history. >> good history. >> yes. >> but i can say that my roots started right here. >> yes. >> for sure. >> no doubt. >> no doubt. >> okay. the young couple needed jobs and

they found them at a booming ford motor company in dearborn, michigan. so you literally just walked. >> i just walked and walked through those things -- >> august 1967. >> august 1967. and when i came, this person looked at my resume and said 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. >> 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. >> he says, i cannot pronounce your name so that's the time my name became ha rani. >> it means queen in hindi. my dad also got sick of spelling his name every time someone asked so he decided to change it

as well. so that's when you became sam. >> i said, okay, this is it. now i'm back to the original. >> back to it. >> how big a part of your roots would you say this place is? >> you know, my -- good part of my life i worked for ford 34 years. and i think after that 20-some years, 24 years, i worked in this building. >> wow. it's pretty amazing. >> yeah. everything for us and my brother and now my kids, i mean, this place made that possible in some ways. >> yeah. >> yeah. >> life is a journey. you go through it. and you go through the phases of it, and each one of those phases does become a root for somebody. it may not be for you but for your generations down.

>> i think more than any other place in my life this is where i grew i think as a person. and i think when 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. >> like i used to do it 67 years back. not bad, right? >> not bad. you haven't lost your touch. >> yes. >> 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. >> there are two tracks.

one part coming and one part going. >> i think it suddenly strikes you that in order to really understand where you're going, you have to understand from where you came. >> you came from. yeah. >> that makes sense, huh? now it makes more sense than ever. >> yes. you are in the "cnn newsroom" i'm suzanne malveaux. what really happened when michael brown and officer darren wilson met last august in the middle of a ferguson, missouri, street? well, what we know for sure is that there was a struggle and officer wilson shot and killed michael brown. well, grand jurors as you know decided not to indict officer wilson and they had a chance to review all of the evidence. well, for the next hour we're going to do the same with the help of our two legal analysts joey jackson and paul callan they've been poring through the evidence ever since it was