eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT In Other Rooms, Other Worlds JAIPUR,LATECITY SEPTEMBER21,2025 14+4PAGES,`6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM CBC 15502/13/0019/2526 DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA Booker Prize-winning writer Kiran Desai on how her new novel became a cartography of selfhood, longing and exile SEPT 21 DEADLINE SETS OFF PANIC TECH FIRMS WILL LOVE IT: TRUMP $1-MN GOLD CARD ANNOUNCED After 50% tariff, $100,000 annual fee for H-1B visa: Trump’s latest hits skilled Indian labour in US Huge fee has potential to kill H-1B, but Delhi keeps fingers crossed Humanitarian consequences because of disruption: MEA SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 20 ANNOUNCINGAsweepingoverhaulof theH-1Bvisasystemthat, effectively,targetsskilledIndians more than any other group, US PresidentDonaldTrumpsigneda proclamation Friday that will raise the fee for these visas to $100,000 (`88 lakh) annually — makingitprohibitivelyexpensive forcompaniestohireIndianprofessionals in the US. Currently, the H-1B visa fee rangesfromabout$2000-$5000 dependingonemployersizeand othercosts.Thevisasarevalidfor three years and can be renewed for another three years. Companies pay to sponsor H-1B CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AGGAM WALIA & SOUMYARENRA BARIK H-1B EMPLOYEES AT INDIAN FIRMS (FY24) JUST LIKE the 50% tariffs endangers Indian goods and merchandise exports to the US, the $100,000 a year application fee for H-1B visas threatensto effectively kill the programme unless US President Donald Trump changeshismindandtweakshis order in the coming months. It is still early hours for the government and the IT industry to fathom the impact of Trump’s new order. Describing it as another ‘Black Swan’ event, an IT Infosys NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 20 AP Is that person valuable enough (for the employer to pay) $100,000 a year to the government... That’s the point of immigration: hire Americans, make sure people coming in are the top, top people. The President is crystal clear. Valuable people only for America. Stop the nonsense. HOWARD LUTNICK, US Commerce Secretary, alongside President Donald Trump at Oval Office CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 TCS 8,137 7,566 HCL America 2,952 LTIMindtree 2,136 Wipro 1,636 Tech Mahindra Americas 1,199 L&T Technology Services 351 Source: US Citizenship and Immigration Services data Trump decision sparks Why visa roadblock will cast shadow on US rush, anxiety: ‘Don’t know what awaits me’ trade talks next week NIKHILA HENRY, VIDHEESHA KUNTAMALLA & SAMAN HUSAIN HYDERABAD, NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 20 ON SATURDAY, a family of three —wife,husbandandchild—who were vacationing in Dubai rushed to Abu Dhabi’s international airport on receiving a call from their employer to return immediately to California. The reason? US President Donald ECONOMY H-1B FEE EXPLAINED: WHO PAYS, WHO IS EXEMPT, WHAT IS STILL UNCLEAR? FULL COVERAGE, PAGE 11 Trump signing a proclamation imposinga$100,000(overRs88 lakh) fee on H-1B visas. SpeakingtoTheIndianExpress CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 RAVI DUTTA MISHRA NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 20 GIVEN THAT the average annual salaryofanH-1Bvisaholderinthe US is $66,000, the $100,000-annualfeeannouncedbyUSPresident DonaldTrumpcripplesa programme that most benefits the Indian diaspora. Significantly, it marks the first expansion of America’s protectionist stance from goods to the services sector. The visa move, just like the additional25percenttariffsover Russianoilimportsandthewithdrawal of sanctions waiver grantedtoChabaharportinIran, largely impacts India. This comes barely days after a US team, led by Assistant US Trade Representative (USTR) for South and Central AsiaBrendanLynch,visited New Delhi, when India-US CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 PM: Our dependence on other countries is our biggest enemy EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE AHMEDABAD, SEPTEMBER 20 HOW TWO ESCAPED FROM JAIPUR JAIL P4 SAYINGTHATIndia’sbiggest“enemy” today is dependence on other countries, Prime Minister NarendraModionSaturdayreiterated his call for self-reliance andunderlinedthatwhetheritis (semiconductor)“chipsorships, they must be made in India”. Addressing the ‘Samudra se Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a roadshow in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. ANI Samruddhi’ event in Bhavnagar, where he inaugurated and laid thefoundationstonesof projects worth Rs 34,200 crore, Modi said: “Bharat aaj vishwabandhu ke bhavna se aage badh raha hai. Duniya mein hamara koi bada dushman nahin hai. Sacche arth mein agar hamara koi dushman hai, toh woh hai doosre deshon par hamari nirbharta (India is moving forward today with the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Parsiana: 60 years on, magazine for Parsi community to shut operations in October PAGE 1 ANCHOR NAYONIKA BOSE MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 20 IN 1973, an article in Parsiana on the secluded Tower of Silence — araised,circulartowerwhere,as perthecenturies-oldZoroastrian tradition, dead bodies are exposed to vultures — created an uproar in the orthodox Parsi circles of Mumbai. Shiavax Vakil, then trustee of Jehangir Patel, the editor and publisher of Parsiana, at its office in Mumbai’s Fort area. Amit Chakravarty the Bombay Parsi Punchayet who had gained access to the tower,hadpennedapieceforthe magazine about bodies lying exposed owing to the dwindling vulture population. “While the issue was known since the 1900s, it had not been documented.In1973,perhapsfor thefirsttime,someonehadgone insideandwrittenaboutthebodieslyingaround.Itcreatedanuproar,withpeoplewonderinghow alaypersoncouldenterthetower or talk about the customs of disposing,” says Jehangir Patel, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Jaipur Homebound enters the margins to bring statistics to life: Director Ghaywan ALAKA SAHANI MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 20 A DAY after Homebound was announced as India's official entry for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature CONTINUED ON PAGE 5 A still from the movie