The Illusive American Dream: One Village's Dangerous Obsession with the USA
Words by Nivid Desai
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The Illusive American Dream: One Village's Dangerous Obsession with the USA by Nivid Desai
As soon as you enter Dingucha, you see a gigantic advertisement painted on the entire outer wall of a house. It boasts of an immigration agency which offers its services to aspirants who want to “Study in UK and CAN”. A bold declaration states that one can secure admission to educational institutes in these countries “with or without IELTS” (the International English Language Testing System, a standardized and mandatory test to evaluate an international student’s English language proficiency). The advertisement establishes the pinnacle of confidence in the agency’s services: Pay after visa.
The village streets open up to two large buildings: one is a primary school, and the other is a high school. Both gates bear the names of donors who, as indicated clearly, reside in the United States.
By the time you reach the central porch of the village, you pass by more than a dozen advertisements—big and small—offering various services to immigrate to the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. “Work abroad” and “Study abroad” calls-to-action galore. Some claim to fetch an offer letter from the client’s desired university in three days of application. Others offer enticing packages for married couples to emigrate on visas of their choice. All banners, posters and wall-painted advertisements feature the names of their respective proprietors, after which a peculiar suffix follows: Dinguchawala.
The village constantly reminds you of its jeopardized obsession with immigrating to first-world countries, particularly the United States. Elusive corrosion of the American Dream finds its home in these streets.
Dingucha exists in India but lives abroad.
The Patel Family
On January 19 2022, a family of four was part of a caravan passing through the Manitoba province in Canada. The family comprised Jagdish Baldevbhai Patel (39), his wife, Vaishali Patel (37) and their two children, Vihangi (11) and Dharmik (3). They had discreetly left their home in Dingucha on January 12 to fly to Canada on a visitor visa. Their house was left to indicate that they were going on a holiday. Neither Jagdish’s parents nor his closest family had contacted him or his family since they departed from Dingucha. To them, their journey was to end in their final destination, Canada.
While in fact, Jagdish and his family planned to enter the United States illegally via the Canadian border. They had paid the trafficking agent more than one crore rupees to ensure safe passage into the States. The agent had to help them reach North Dakota, after which they would plan their way forward on their own. They were in search of their American Dream and ready to do whatever it took.