HYDERABAD: The cover photograph of ‘Visa Wives’ with an Indian girl complete with ‘shaadi ka chooda’ (wedding bangles), in jeans and a T-shirt, but nevertheless sporting her black beads and holding her passport and visa sums up the shy Indian girl married to an NRI and on the verge of flying off to the US.
The picture depicts someone hesitant, yet trying to dream big and stay brave in a strange new country. Journalist-turned-writer Radhika MB’s ‘Visa Wives - Emigration Experiences of Indian Women in the U’S flows smoothly into 331 pages to capture the emotions of a ‘Visa Wife,’ from the time she understands she will have to uproot herself from India to the need to embrace a new country when she gets married, understanding the local culture, comprehending the American accent and learning the Indian-American lifestyle there. Reminds you of English Vinglish?
The book by Ebury Press by Penguin Random House India packages every emotion under 22 chapters such as “Facing the Interview,” No Car, No Life, Bringing up the babies, When Relatives Visit etc. The book speaks about many women and cases - Sarika, Pooja, Kausalya, Arunam, Vijaya and their stories. Names may be different, but being ‘neither here nor there’ seems to be the common thread.
It also addresses the visa wive’s dilemmas – Is it okay to reheat and serve food kept in the fridge or recycle the leftover dosa batter to the visiting in-laws - and suggests coping mechanisms on why it’s important to let go of jibes and seek a harmonious solution, especially when the parents and in-laws come visiting them.
The last chapter ‘Reinvent, Integrate and Let Go’ talks about women who found their own little dream they managed to chase during the ‘dependent visa’ status.
More importantly, it also touches upon domestic violence and the safety of Indian women in the US. Most NRI wives will connect with Radhika’s writings as she, by her own confession, says she wanted to rant and the book gave her a good channel to vent her feelings. “I wrote it to validate the feelings and struggles of women like me’. The book seems to do that bang on.
Visa Wives Penguin `399