Wonderful piece. Indeed, the plight of trailing wives is completely ignored more often than not. I wrote a short story on this last year. Do read when you have time.
Vineet, this is an excellent story. What did you base this story on? I’m curious! Because it’s clearly written with information that only someone that’s gone through (or had someone very close to them go through) this experience is likely to know.
Hi Sindhu. Thank you very much. I did not base it on any particular person nor do I have anyone really close to me who has gone through this. I read blogs, saw videos and read many parts of the book Visa Wives as research.
Kudos, you have picked up on many subtleties that are lost on people whom I’ve tried to convey this experience to! May I ask what led you to write on this subject? Was it just to create awareness? I write an immigration newsletter centered around immigrant experiences in the US and reading your story made me want to reach out to you. :)
I think it was just the whole unfairness of the H4 visa and the fact that there are so many Indian women who have had to give up work after going to USA. I've subscribed to your newsletter. Will read the earlier posts and look forward to new ones :)
Thank you for this piece, Mahima. I lived in the US for close to 9 years. My husband moved from Amsterdam to the US so we could live together and get married. His struggles with H4, later H4-EAD (work authorization for spouses), made us finally decide to move to Canada. Now we both can do whatever the hell we want and don’t have to worry about making a trip to the US embassy every time we visit India. I have a lot of sympathy for women who lose their identities so their spouses can live their American dream.
Wonderful piece. Indeed, the plight of trailing wives is completely ignored more often than not. I wrote a short story on this last year. Do read when you have time.
https://thebombayreview.com/2021/05/19/h4-fiction-by-vineet-deshpande-creative-writing-workshop/
Vineet, this is an excellent story. What did you base this story on? I’m curious! Because it’s clearly written with information that only someone that’s gone through (or had someone very close to them go through) this experience is likely to know.
Hi Sindhu. Thank you very much. I did not base it on any particular person nor do I have anyone really close to me who has gone through this. I read blogs, saw videos and read many parts of the book Visa Wives as research.
Kudos, you have picked up on many subtleties that are lost on people whom I’ve tried to convey this experience to! May I ask what led you to write on this subject? Was it just to create awareness? I write an immigration newsletter centered around immigrant experiences in the US and reading your story made me want to reach out to you. :)
I think it was just the whole unfairness of the H4 visa and the fact that there are so many Indian women who have had to give up work after going to USA. I've subscribed to your newsletter. Will read the earlier posts and look forward to new ones :)
Thank you for this piece, Mahima. I lived in the US for close to 9 years. My husband moved from Amsterdam to the US so we could live together and get married. His struggles with H4, later H4-EAD (work authorization for spouses), made us finally decide to move to Canada. Now we both can do whatever the hell we want and don’t have to worry about making a trip to the US embassy every time we visit India. I have a lot of sympathy for women who lose their identities so their spouses can live their American dream.
Excellent piece as usual.
On a lighter note, did you watch the whole goddamn Pardes for the GIFs?? They are so en point.
Not before publishing this. But I watched so many excerpts that I caved and watched the entire climax later. Can't take the sugary beginning anyway 😁