I think you need to look at this a little more broadly. I'm a little confused on the "upscale neighborhood, geriatric". Are you saying economically, that population was above you? Or that the geriatric population was a "social" difference? You may need to flush that out a bit if you are going to use it. I think the geriatric population part can work really well (many people find it difficult to relate to other age groups), I'm less sure about their income status (generally, PT students come from middle to upper class economic backgrounds....so we as a group are most likely to struggle in relating to lower socio economic status, not higher. You may be hard pressed to convince an admissions committee that it was a time of personal growth to try and relate to people who make more $$ than you). I'm not sure I see the men's basketball team either.....unless you could convince me that the men's basketball culture is so strong that sometimes it was a barrier. (otherwise, I'm thinking you are likely to share a common college social, cultural and economic culture with those players. So they are more similar than different to you. Mine is just one opinion).
To me, the most obvious take for you is to talk about your life experience as an Indian-American. Perhaps you have felt like you have a culturally different perspective from your peers. Is it hard to understand your friends sometimes who may have a different culture? Does your culture come with a different set of health care beliefs than other cultures or providers may hold? I think that would be a very powerful essay. Have you had experiences in life where you felt like your culture created a barrier for you?
Also, have you ever done any volunteer work or observation work for economically disadvantaged population? (anything....soup kitchen, clothing drives, volunteer at church, observed in a free clinic). That may help round your essay out for the economic perspective.
