In Hyderabad’s Ameerpet, often referred to as the ‘United States of Ameerpet’, the silence is deafening. Once a throbbing hub of software dreams, its triangular atrium now wears a deserted look. Colourful billboards promising six-figure salaries glare down at empty pavements. Even the walls marked with stern warnings “do not sit on walls/ grilles/ steps” stand unchallenged. The hum of samosa sellers, tea vendors, job consultants and laptop repairers, once inseparable from the churn of students and tutors, has faded into a mournful quiet.

It is a silence heavy with broken ambition. For years, Ameerpet thrived on a singular fantasy: the H-1B visa. But on September 19, that fantasy collapsed. From the Oval Office in Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation that shook t

See Full Page