Steve Harvey had been hosting Family Feud for over a decade when 28-year-old Cavia Sharma walked onto the stage wearing her grandmother’s red sur. The golden embroidery caught the studio lights as she moved gracefully to her position with the rest of her family from New Jersey. It was supposed to be just another typical Tuesday taping in March 2024.
But what happened next would become one of the most emotional moments in television history. The game proceeded normally for the first few rounds. Both the Sharma family and their opponents, the Martinez family from Texas were competitive and entertaining. The audience was engaged, laughing at the usual family feud moments, and Steve was delivering his signature humor with perfect timing.
Nobody could have predicted what was about to unfold when Cavia stepped up to the podium for the fast money round. Steve immediately noticed her stunning traditional outfit and complimented her appearance. When he asked about the Serei, Kavia explained that it had been in her family for over 150 years passed down through generations of women.
Her voice was steady, but there was something in her eyes that suggested deeper emotions beneath the surface. The jewelry she wore, she explained, was her wedding jewelry, blessed by their family priest and reserved for only the most important occasions. When Steve asked about her husband and whether he was there to support her, the atmosphere in the studio shifted completely.
Kavia’s composed demeanor cracked slightly as she revealed that her husband was not present because he had died 2 years earlier. The sudden silence in the studio was deafening as everyone processed this unexpected revelation. Steve’s entire energy changed from his typical game show enthusiasm to genuine compassion and concern.
He expressed his condolences and gently asked about what had happened. Kavilla explained that Arjun, only 30 years old, had been killed in a car accident by a drunk driver while driving home from work. The doctors assured her that death had been instantaneous and that he hadn’t suffered. But Cavia wasn’t finished with her story.
She needed Steve and the millions of viewers to understand something deeper about her marriage and her presence on the show that day. With trembling hands, but growing strength in her voice, she began to explain that her marriage to Arjun had been arranged by their families, a tradition still common in their culture, though becoming less frequent among younger generations.
Initially, Kavi admitted she had been resistant to the arrangement. She had harbored dreams of finding love independently, of experiencing the kind of romance she saw in movies and read about in books. The idea of marrying someone chosen by her parents felt limiting and old-fashioned to her modern American sensibilities.
She was nervous about meeting Arjun and skeptical about whether real love could develop from such traditional beginning. However, her parents possessed wisdom that she couldn’t yet appreciate. During the three formal meetings that preceded their wedding, always conducted in the presence of family members as custom dictated, Cavia began to glimpse the exceptional character of the man her parents had chosen for her.
Arjun was a software engineer by profession, but his true passion lay in teaching and helping others. Every weekend, he volunteered at a local community center, patiently teaching computer skills to elderly immigrants who were struggling to adapt to technology in their new country. Despite recognizing Arjun’s kindness and dedication, Cavia found herself building emotional walls during the first year and a half of their marriage.
She was kind and beautiful, fulfilling all the traditional expectations of a good wife. But she held back her heart. Fear of vulnerability and resentment about not having chosen her own path prevented her from fully embracing the relationship that her parents had orchestrated. The turning point came when Cavia’s beloved grandmother in India became critically ill.
This grandmother had been like a second mother to Cavia throughout her childhood and the news of her impending death was devastating. Arjun who had never met this grandmother and spoke very little Hindi didn’t hesitate for a moment. He immediately used his vacation time and their savings to book emergency flights to Mumbai so that Cavia could be with her grandmother during her final days.
For two weeks in that small house in Mumbai, Cavia watched in amazement as her husband transformed into something extraordinary. Despite the language barrier, Arjun sat by her grandmother’s bedside for hours, holding her frail hand, and learning her favorite traditional songs phonetically so he could sing to her. He helped with the most intimate aspects of her care, feeding her, helping to bathe her, and treating her with the reverence and love typically reserved for one’s own grandparent.
During those profound two weeks, Gavia realized that she had been in love with her husband for months without recognizing it. All the walls she had constructed around her heart had crumbled without her awareness. Watching Arjun<unk>s selfless devotion to someone he had never met simply because she was important to Cavia revealed the depth of his character and the authenticity of his love.
On their final night in her grandmother’s house, surrounded by the sounds and smells of her childhood, Cavia found the courage to tell Arjun that she loved him for the first time. Not the beautiful love expected in arranged marriages, not the gradual affection that develops over time, but the all-consuming choose you everyday kind of love that she had always dreamed of experiencing.
His response revealed that he had been waiting patiently for her to reach this realization. loving her completely from their first meeting while giving her the space and time she needed to find her own way to him. The following year was the happiest of Kevia’s life. Every day brought new appreciation for the wisdom her parents had shown in recognizing a compatibility she couldn’t see herself.
She and Arjun made plans for their future together, including a nonprofit organization they wanted to start that would combine his technical expertise with her business background to help immigrant families navigate the complex systems in their new country. They plan to call it bridgebuilders, symbolizing their mission to help people cross the gaps between their old lives and new opportunities.
the night before the accident that would take Arjgin away from her forever. They had stayed up late discussing the details of their nonprofit. They talked about the families they could help, the difference they could make, and the legacy they wanted to build together. Cavia fell asleep that night feeling grateful for the arranged marriage that had seemed so limiting, but had actually given her everything she had never known she wanted.
Now 2 years after losing Arjun, Cavia stood on the family feud stage, wearing the sari he had loved most and the jewelry he had helped her choose for their first anniversary. She had come to the show hoping to win money that would allow her to start bridgebuilders in his memory, turning their shared dream into a living tribute to his love and generosity.
But her appearance on Family Feud represented something much larger than fundraising for a nonprofit. Cavia wanted the world to understand that arranged marriages when conducted with respect and wisdom rather than force could be just as beautiful and meaningful as any other path to love. She wanted to challenge the stereotypes and misconceptions that painted all arranged marriages as oppressive or outdated.
More importantly, she wanted to reach every woman who was building walls around her heart out of fear or pride. Her story was a powerful reminder that love comes in many forms and follows many timelines. Sometimes it strikes like lightning at first sight, and sometimes it grows slowly like a seed that requires patience and nurturing to bloom.
Both types of love are valid. Both are beautiful, and both deserve to be celebrated. Cavia’s message to anyone listening was clear. The walls we build to protect ourselves from potential pain often end up keeping us from experiencing joy. She had wasted precious time being afraid to love fully.
And that regret would stay with her forever. But rather than being consumed by that regret, she chose to honor Arjun’s memory by helping others avoid the same mistake. When Steve Harvey heard Cavia’s complete story, he was visibly moved in a way that his decades of television experience had never quite prepared him for. He spoke directly to the camera, addressing the millions of viewers who were witnessing this extraordinary moment.
He praised Cavia’s courage in sharing such a personal and painful story. And he emphasized the important lessons about love, culture, and the power of family wisdom that her experience contained. The fast money round that followed felt almost anticlimactic compared to the emotional journey that had preceded it, but Cavia played with focus and determination.
She scored well enough to win the $20,000 prize money, which would become the seed funding for Bridgebuilder nonprofit. Her family celebrated the victory, but everyone in the studio understood that the real triumph had been the sharing of her story and the connections she had made with viewers around the world. In the months following the episode’s broadcast, bridgebuilders grew beyond anything Cavia had imagined possible.
Donations poured in from viewers who had been moved by her story, and volunteers from many different backgrounds offered their services. The organization expanded to help hundreds of immigrant families with everything from navigating health care systems to starting small businesses to accessing educational opportunities for their children.
Cavia became an unexpected spokesperson for cross-cultural understanding and the diverse paths that love can take. She spoke at universities about the importance of cultural sensitivity, at business schools about social entrepreneurship, and at community centers about the immigrant experience in America.
Throughout all of these appearances, she continued to wear traditional Indian clothing and her grandmother’s jewelry. proud to represent her heritage while building bridges between different communities. The response to her story also sparked important conversations about arranged marriages in immigrant communities across America.
Young people began having more open discussions with their parents about tradition and choice. Finding ways to honor their cultural heritage while also asserting their individual autonomy, parents began approaching the practice with more sensitivity to their children’s feelings and desires, creating space for traditions to evolve while maintaining their essential meaning.
Steve Harvey often reflected on Cavia’s appearance as one of the most meaningful moments of his television career. He had seen many contestants over the years, heard countless personal stories, and witnessed numerous emotional moments. But something about Cavia’s grace under pressure, her willingness to be vulnerable on national television, and her transformation of personal tragedy into public service had a profound impact on his understanding of what television could accomplish at its best.
The Bridgebuilders organization continued to grow and evolve, eventually operating in multiple cities across the United States. Each family they helped received a small card with Arjun and Cavia’s wedding photograph and a simple message about love bridging all differences. The nonprofit became a model for other communities looking to support immigrant families.
And Cavia was invited to share her approach at conferences and policy meetings. Years later, when people asked Kevia about that day on Family Feud, she would always emphasize that she hadn’t gone on the show to become famous or to change people’s minds about arranged marriage. She had simply wanted to honor her husband’s memory and start the organization they had planned together.
But she learned that sometimes the most powerful advocacy happens not through planned campaigns, but through authentic storytelling that allows people to see familiar issues from new perspective. Cavia’s story became a testament to the complexity and beauty of modern immigrant experiences in America. She represented millions of people who navigate between traditional cultural practices and contemporary American values, finding ways to honor both without sacrificing either.
Her marriage to Arjun had been arranged according to ancient customs, but their love story was entirely their own, shaped by individual choices and personal growth within the framework their families had provided. The lasting impact of Cavia’s Family Feud appearance extended far beyond the nonprofit she established or the money she raised.
Her story became part of the ongoing American conversation about love, family, tradition, and the many different ways people can build meaningful lives together. She proved that sharing our most personal struggles and triumphs can create connections across cultural and geographical boundaries, reminding everyone that the fundamental human experiences of love, loss, and hope transcend all differences.
The success of Bridgebuilders eventually caught the attention of major news networks and documentary filmmakers who wanted to explore the deeper implications of Cavia’s story. A prominent filmmaker approached her about creating a featurelength documentary that would follow several immigrant families as they navigated the services provided by her organization.
The documentary would also examine the broader themes of arranged marriage, cultural adaptation, and the American dream through the lens of contemporary immigrant experiences. Initially hesitant about the additional exposure, Cavia eventually agreed to participate in the documentary project because she believed it could amplify the voices of the families bridgebuilders served.
She insisted that the focus remain on the people they were helping rather than on her personal story. Though she understood that her journey from game show contestant to nonprofit leader provided a compelling narrative thread that would help audiences connect with the larger issues. The documentary filming took place over the course of a full year, capturing the day-to-day operations of bridgebuilders as well as intimate moments with individual families as they worked toward their goals.
One particularly moving segment followed an elderly Pakistani couple as they struggled to understand their grandson’s college application process. Cavia worked with them for months, not only helping them navigate the bureaucratic requirements, but also bridging the generational and cultural gaps that had created tension within their family.
Another powerful story line in the documentary focused on a young Somali woman who had arrived in the United States as a refugee and was trying to start a catering business featuring traditional foods from her homeland. Bridgebuilders helped her understand licensing requirements, connect with suppliers, and develop a business plan that honored her cultural traditions while appealing to diverse American customers.
The woman’s success became emblematic of the organization’s approach to helping immigrants build bridges between their heritage and their new opportunities. Throughout the filming process, Cavia continued to wear traditional Indian clothing to work everyday. A choice that sparked interesting conversations with the documentary crew about cultural identity and professional presentation.
She explained that early in her career before meeting Arjgin, she had felt pressure to minimize her cultural identity in professional settings, believing that success required assimilation to mainstream American norms. Her marriage had taught her that authenticity and cultural pride could actually be sources of strength rather than obstacles to overcome.
The documentary also explored the evolution of Kevia’s relationship with her own parents, an extended family following Arjun’s death and the success of Bridgebuilders. Her parents, who had initially worried that she was taking on too much responsibility too soon after her loss, gradually became some of her strongest supporters and regular volunteers with the organization.
They began to understand that the work was not just a way for her to honor Arjun’s memory, but also a path toward healing and finding new purpose in her life. One of the most poignant moments in the documentary occurred when Cavia returned to India for the first time since Arjun’s death to visit the village where her grandmother had lived and died.
She brought with her a photo album documenting all the families that bridgebuilders had helped. Wanting to show her grandmother’s spirit the positive impact that had grown from that final visit they had shared, the sequence captured Cavia sitting in her grandmother’s former room wearing the same Siri she had worn on Family Feud.
sharing stories about Arjun’s legacy with relatives who had never met him but had heard his story many times. The trip to India also provided an opportunity for the filmmakers to explore the perspectives of Cavia’s extended family members who had remained in more traditional settings. Her aunts and cousins shared their own experiences with arranged marriage, providing a broader cultural context for understanding how practices evolved across different generations and geographical locations.
Some of these relatives had marriage stories that closely paralleled Cavia’s experience, while others had followed more conventional paths that confirmed their family’s initial expectations. These conversations revealed the diversity of experiences within arranged marriage traditions, challenging both stereotypical western assumptions about the practice, and oversimplified cultural generalizations.
The documentary captured nuance discussions about consent, family pressure, individual choice, and the balance between honoring tradition and adapting to contemporary circumstances. Cavia served as a thoughtful guide through these complex topics, helping viewers understand the difference between forced marriage and arranged marriage while acknowledging the legitimate concerns that outsiders might have about both practice.
It the filmmakers also documented several bridgebuilders success stories that demonstrated the long-term impact of the organization’s work. They followed up with families who had received help years earlier, showing how initial assistance with immigration paperwork or business licensing had led to thriving enterprises and stable communities.
One family that had started with help opening a small grocery store had eventually expanded to three locations and was employing other recent immigrants, creating a ripple effect of economic empowerment that extended far beyond the original intervention. Another success story featured a young man who had received mentorship through Bridgebuilders while pursuing his engineering degree and had gone on to start his own technology company focused on creating apps that help immigrant families access government services.
His company had developed tools that translated complex legal documents into multiple languages and connected families with appropriate resources in their local community. The young entrepreneur credited Cavia and Bridgebuilders with not only providing practical support, but also inspiring him to think about how his professional success could serve his community.
The documentary premiered at several major film festivals before receiving a limited theatrical release and eventually being acquired by a streaming platform where it reached a much larger audience. Critics praised the film for its sensitive handling of complex cultural topics and its successful balance between individual storytelling and broader social commentary.
Many reviewers specifically mentioned Cavia’s authentic presence as a narrator and subject, noting how her genuine emotional investment in the stories being told elevated the entire project. Following the documentaries release, Cavia received invitations to speak at even more prestigious venues, including the United Nations General Assembly during a session focused on global migration issues.
Her address to the international body emphasized the importance of supporting immigrant integration, not just through government programs, but also through community-based organizations that understand the specific cultural and practical challenges facing different populations. At the UN, Cavia shared the stage with other advocates and immigrants who had created innovative solutions to common integration challenges.
The diversity of approaches represented in that session demonstrated how her model of culturally sensitive support services was being adapted and implemented in different contexts around the world. She felt honored to represent not just bridgebuilders, but the broader movement of immigrant-led organizations that were filling gaps in traditional social services.
The international attention generated by the documentary and her UN appearance led to consulting opportunities with governments and NOS’s in other countries that were seeking to improve their immigrant integration programs. Gavia found herself traveling to Canada, Australia, and several European nations to share her insights about effective community-based support models.
These experiences broadened her understanding of global migration patterns and helped her appreciate how the challenges facing immigrants in America were part of much larger worldwide trends. During her international travels, Kevia met with other widows and widowers who had channeled their grief into social activism and community service.
These connections provided her with a support network of people who understood both the pain of sudden loss and the healing that could come from dedicating oneself to helping others. She learned about different cultural approaches to mourning and memorialization, gaining new perspectives on how to honor the dead while continuing to live fully.
One particularly meaningful connection was with a woman in London who had lost her husband in the 2005 terrorist attacks and had subsequently started an organization focused on preventing extremism through community dialogue and education. The two women discovered remarkable parallels in their journeys from personal tragedy to public service and they began collaborating on projects that addressed the intersections between immigration, cultural integration, and community resilience.
These international partnerships eventually led to the creation of Bridgebuilders International, a network of organizations around the world that shared resources, strategies, and support systems for helping immigrants succeed in their new communities. Cavia found herself coordinating this global network from her headquarters in New Jersey.
using technology to connect organizations in dozens of countries and facilitate knowledge sharing across linguistic and cultural boundaries. The growth of Bridgebuilders International also necessitated significant changes in the original organization’s structure and operations. Cavia worked with management consultants and board members to develop sustainable systems that could maintain the personal culturally sensitive approach that had made the organization successful while also achieving the scale necessary to serve growing numbers of families. This
process required her to step back from direct service provision and focus more on leadership, strategic planning, and organizational development. The transition was emotionally challenging for Kevia because hands-on work with individual families had been an important part of her healing process following Arjun’s death.
However, she gradually came to understand that her greatest contribution lay in creating systems and training other people who could provide that direct support. She developed comprehensive training programs for staff and volunteers that emphasized not just practical skills, but also cultural competency and emotional intelligence.
As bridgebuilders continued to evolve and expand, Kevia made the decision to write a book that would capture not only her personal story, but also the lessons she had learned about effective immigrant integration approaches. The book project required her to research the historical context of immigration to America, study successful integration models from other time periods and locations, and synthesize her practical experience into actionable guidance for other communities.
Writing the book also prompted deep reflection on how her understanding of love, family, and cultural identity had evolved since that day on Family Feud. She realized that her initial resistance to arranged marriage had been based partly on misconceptions about tradition and modernity and partly on her own fears about vulnerability and trust.
The process of falling in love with Arjun had taught her that authentic relationships could develop within traditional frameworks and that cultural practices carried wisdom that wasn’t always immediately apparent to younger generation. The book became a bestseller in multiple categories. appealing to readers interested in immigration issues, cultural studies, entrepreneurship, and personal memoirs.
Cavia donated all proceeds to Bridgebuilders International, enabling the network to expand into new countries and develop additional services for immigrant families. The success of the book also led to opportunities for her to contribute to academic conferences and policy discussions about immigration reform and integration support.
In honoring Arjun’s memory through bridgebuilders, through her advocacy work, through international partnerships, and through her writing, Kavia created a living legacy that continued to touch new lives every day around the world. Her appearance on a game show had lasted only a few minutes, but the ripple effects of that moment of vulnerability and honesty continued to expand across continents and cultures, proving that sometimes the most ordinary settings can become the stage for the most extraordinary human connections
that transform not just individual lives but entire communities and movements for social change. Years later, when Cavia reflected on that pivotal day on Family Feud, she understood that her decision to share her story so openly had been guided by something larger than her conscious intentions.
In that moment of grief and hope, wearing her grandmother’s sari and her wedding jewelry, she had unconsciously channeled the wisdom of generations of women who had faced adversity with grace and turned their pain into purpose. The red sari itself had become an important symbol within the bridgebuilders community.
During major events and celebrations, Kavia still wore it as a reminder of the day when everything changed. New staff members and volunteers often asked about the significance of her traditional dress at formal occasions, providing opportunities to share not just her personal story, but also broader lessons about the importance of cultural pride and authentic self-expression in professional settings.
The jewelry from her wedding to Arjun had similarly taken on symbolic meaning within her extended family and community. When her younger cousin became engaged several years later, she specifically requested to borrow pieces from Cavia’s collection for her own wedding ceremony. Wanting to connect her new beginning with the powerful love story that had inspired so many people, this gesture of continuity across generations demonstrated how individual experiences of love and loss could become part of collective family and community narratives. As
Bridgebuilders International approached its 10th anniversary, GAIA began planning a major conference that would bring together representatives from all the affiliated organizations around the world. The event would serve multiple purposes, celebrating the network’s achievements, sharing innovative approaches that had emerged in different cultural contexts and planning for the future expansion of services to meet evolving global migration patterns.
The conference planning process revealed the remarkable diversity of challenges and solutions that had developed within the bridgebuilders network. Organizations in different countries had adapted the core model to address specific local needs. From helping Syrian refugees in Germany to supporting economic migrants in Australia to assisting climate refugees in several Pacific island nations, each adaptation maintained the essential principles of cultural sensitivity and community-based support while developing unique approaches appropriate to
different governmental systems and social contexts. The anniversary conference also provided an opportunity for Cavia to announce her next major initiative, the establishment of the Arjun Sharma Fellowship Program, which would provide funding and mentorship for young immigrants who wanted to start their own community service organizations.
The fellowship would honor Arjun’s memory while creating a new generation of leaders who could continue expanding and evolving the work that had grown from their shared vision of building bridges between communities. The first class of Arjun Sharma fellows represented 12 different countries of origin and were working on projects ranging from mental health support for refugee children to technology platforms connecting immigrant entrepreneurs with potential investors to educational programs helping elderly immigrants develop digital literacy skills. Their
diversity and innovation demonstrated how the principles Cavia and Arjun had envisioned could continue generating new solutions to emerging challenges. 10 years after her appearance on Family Feud, Cavia had transformed from a grieving widow seeking to honor her husband’s memory into a globally recognized leader in immigrant integration and community development.
Yet, she maintained the same humility and authenticity that had made her television appearance so compelling. always emphasizing that her role was to facilitate and support the work of others rather than to position herself as the central figure in these movements for social change. The anniversary of her family feud appearance had become an annual day of reflection and celebration within the bridgebuilders community, not as a memorial to loss, but as a celebration of the transformative power of authentic storytelling and genuine
human connection. Each year on that date, organizations around the world held special events highlighting recent successes and renewing their commitment to serving immigrant families with dignity, respect, and cultural understanding.
