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Tanul Thakur’s ‘Wild Wild East’ to be an H-1B exposé
Based on eight years of reporting, the book examines worker exploitation, wage violations and systemic fraud linked to the visa program.
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Malvika Choudhary - Fri, 10, Apr 2026
- 17:29 EDT
- 22
Tanul Thakur/ Book's cover / X/ Tanul Thakur
In his first book, Indian author Tanul Thakur will delve into the alleged systemic abuse of the H-1B visa program, presenting an investigative account of labor practices and immigration systems.
Titled ‘Wild Wild East: Exiled Americans, Enslaved Indians and the Systemic Abuse of the H-1B Visa Programme,' the book is positioned as an investigative exposé, which explores how the system affects both Indian migrant workers and American professionals, and its broader economic and social impact across two countries.
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It’s here, it’s here, it’s here! My dream, my obsession, my madness. My first book :) Wild Wild East, a work of narrative nonfiction, exposes how the systemic abuse of the H-1B visa programme ‘enslaves’ Indian IT workers and exiles American techies. It unfolds through the stories… pic.twitter.com/niFG50sxB3
— Tanul Thakur (@Plebeian42) April 2, 2026
The narrative nonfiction work follows the lives of three individuals Kumar Pandruvada, Virgil Bierschwale and Manu Mitra, placing their experiences within a broader transnational framework shaped by corporate malpractice, immigration fraud and wage violations.
The book draws on eight years of reporting and research and examines what it describes as a complex ecosystem involving Fortune 500 companies, outsourcing firms, visa consultancies and regulatory institutions.
It highlights wage violations exceeding $121.48 million over the past two decades, based on U.S. Department of Labor data, while suggesting the actual scale could be significantly higher.
In a social media post, Thakur described the project as “my dream, my obsession, my madness,” adding that it “exposes how the systemic abuse of the H-1B visa programme ‘enslaves’ Indian IT workers and exiles American techies.” He said the narrative spans developments from the late 1990s to 2025.
“Most corporate crimes hinge on a few perpetrators… but the H-1B scam makes an entire society–nay, societies–complicit,” he wrote, adding that the book also examines how such practices have been “suppressed by fabled institutions and individuals for… decades.”
The book combines survivor accounts, data analysis, historical research and court records, while challenging dominant narratives around high-skilled immigration and the Indian information technology sector. It also seeks to question the framing of migrant and domestic workers as adversaries within policy debates.
Thakur is an award-winning journalist and film critic who received the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2015, becoming the youngest recipient of the honor. His work has appeared in international publications, including The Washington Post, Financial Times, BBC and CNN.
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