Thank you ladies..

I called them the "H4 St. Jude Widows - Valencia Chapter".

They were 5 women, each Indian, each married to someone who worked in the company I worked. Not all of them had the H4 visa stamp (only 3 of them did) but they all were born and brought up in western India 3-4 years apart, and all happened to land up within the 4 mile city called Valencia.

Husbands went off to work and thanks to the INS (and the 9/11 terrorists), the H4 widows couldn't quite go to work themselves, till their green cards (or EADs) arrived. They were each other's support structure, some had cars, and so often times the week's Safeway trip was taken care of. There was a Mother Hen, who'd take care of all her "brood". She drove the agenda (and the Beetle). There was a Wise Owl, who'd be the one who everyone turned to for advice. Then there was the Little naive one who'd have to be explained everything, but her enthusiasm and simplicity would bring a smile to everyone. There'd be the traditional Indian wives, who'd do everything the husband said..

All in all there was a bunch that you made Hindi serials out of.. The good ones, not the Ekta Kapoor ones... There'd be an occasional birthday or festival, where the perpetrators of getting them to Valencia would join them and good fun would be had by one and all.

That was almost 3 years ago.

Kids happen. People move on. None of the H4 widows live in Valencia any more, and with Yogi having quit St. Jude last week, every single one of the husbands are now working in different organizations. When we call anyone of them, they confess, they don't quite know what's happening the lives of the others.

I don't know what life would have been for me, without them. But almost definitely, my wife wouldn't have had as much fun in her US tenure.

This is the least I could do, to salute the H4 St. Jude Widows - Valencia Chapter .