You built a life in America — the job, the apartment, the savings your parents are proud of. But there's a part no one warned you about: the loneliness underneath "making it," the visa that never lets you fully relax, the guilt of being an ocean away from ageing parents. Ruchi Makkar is an Indian therapist who understands all of it. Video sessions in Hindi or English, wherever you are in the US.
Yes — you can see an Indian therapist from anywhere in the US, online over secure video. You'll work with Ruchi Makkar, a Counselling Psychologist (MA Psychology) with over 6 years' experience, in Hindi or English. She understands the things desi-American life quietly piles on: H-1B and green-card limbo, guilt about ageing parents back home, raising kids between two cultures, and the loneliness that lingers even after you've "made it." Sessions are ₹2,000 (about US$24) for 50 minutes — a fraction of typical US therapy fees.
There are roughly 4.5 million people of Indian origin in the US, part of the world's largest diaspora — around 18 million people, per the UN. From the outside, the Indian-American story looks like a success. From the inside, it carries pressures the people around you often can't see.
H-1B tied to your employer. A green-card wait measured in years, sometimes decades for Indians. You build a whole life here, but a corner of your mind never stops doing the math on what happens if it falls through. That low hum of "what if" sits under everything.
The calls where they sound a little older. The health scare you hear about after the fact. The flight you can't always take. Being the "successful one abroad" doesn't make the guilt of being far away any lighter — it usually makes it harder to admit.
Be excellent, be grateful, don't complain. You're supposed to be the proof that hard work pays off. So when you're anxious or burnt out or just sad, there's a voice saying you have no right to feel this way. That pressure makes struggling feel like failing.
Good salary, nice place, a few weekend friends — and a quiet that hits hardest on Sunday evenings. The closest people who'd really get you are eleven hours away and asleep. That particular loneliness of a full life that still feels thin is real.
Marriages stretched by work hours, two careers, and distance from family who'd normally help. Dating between Indian expectations and American norms. Couples carrying the whole weight alone, with no extended family to cushion it.
Your kids speak American, think American, and look at parts of your upbringing with a polite blankness. You want to pass on what matters without forcing it — and you worry about what's quietly being lost in the gap between your childhood and theirs.
Ruchi Makkar is a postgraduate-trained psychotherapist based in Gurgaon. She works with Indian clients across the United States — New York, New Jersey, the Bay Area, Texas, Seattle, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston — as well as the UK, Canada, the UAE, Singapore, and Australia.
She understands the specific shape of Indian life in America: the visa and green-card limbo that never quite resolves, the guilt of being far from parents who are getting older, the pressure to keep performing the success story, and the loneliness that doesn't go away just because the paycheck is good.
Her clinical approach draws on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), mindfulness, and systemic family therapy — adapted to Indian family structures and the realities of NRI life, not textbook Western assumptions.
"What I hear from clients in the US is a very particular kind of tired — everything looks right on paper, and they haven't said out loud, to anyone, how alone or how anxious they actually feel. In Hindi or English, that's where we start." — Ruchi Makkar, Psychotherapist
Three steps from right now to your first session. No commute, no waiting list, no explaining your whole world to a stranger who's never lived between two countries.
Send a message to +91 95600 67620. Tell her where you are and what's going on. She replies personally — usually within a few hours, even across the time gap.
The US is far behind India, so an evening session for you is Ruchi's morning. Her early IST slots (7–9 am) line up neatly with weekday evenings across the US — no awkward middle-of-the-night calls.
Sessions happen on encrypted video. No app to install. Just a browser, a stable connection, and a private spot — your apartment, a quiet room, wherever you can speak freely.
Living elsewhere in the diaspora? See our pages for NRIs worldwide and other regions too.
Therapy for NRIs →Therapy isn't only for crises. It's for the slow weight of things that are hard to name — especially when your life looks impressive from the outside.
The chronic stress of H-1B dependence and the green-card wait — what it does to your sense of safety, your career choices, and how freely you let yourself plan a future here.
Too Indian at work, too American when you visit home, never quite either. That in-between state is psychologically real and worth working through, not just shrugging off.
Missed occasions, slow health declines, the calls you take too late at night. That guilt doesn't resolve on its own — and it often sits quietly under everything else.
Tech and finance hours, the drive to justify having left India, the fear of slowing down when your status feels tied to staying excellent. Burnout among desi professionals is common and rarely admitted.
Marriages strained by distance, two careers, and no family nearby to lean on. Dating between Indian and American expectations. Individual and couples work both available.
Raising kids who are growing up American while you hold onto what matters from home — and the worry about the gap that opens up between you and them.
One of the hardest emotional decisions in NRI life — settle permanently in the US or return to India? It deserves real space rather than another anxious 2 am scroll.
Which often look different when your stressors include immigration limbo, cultural isolation, and a high-performance world that doesn't make room for visible struggle.
No hidden fees. Sliding scale available on request.
A first session or an occasional check-in when you need someone who actually gets it. About US$24.
4 sessions per month (about US$84) — the cadence that actually creates change, not just temporary relief.
Yes. Sessions are conducted over secure encrypted video — you just need a browser and a private space. Ruchi works in Hindi and English with Indians across the US, from New York to the Bay Area. The time gap is large, so sessions usually land in your US evening, which is Ruchi's morning in India. Once you've picked a recurring slot, it runs smoothly week to week.
The US is far behind India. Eastern Time is roughly 9.5–10.5 hours behind IST and Pacific Time roughly 12.5–13.5 hours behind (the exact figure depends on US daylight saving). In practice, an evening session in the US lands in Ruchi's morning. Her early IST slots — around 7–9 am — match US evenings on the previous calendar day, so a Tuesday evening for you is Wednesday morning for her.
Absolutely. Ruchi conducts sessions in Hindi, English, or a natural mix of both — whichever feels right. Many Indians in the US find it easier to talk about family, marriage, and identity in Hindi. There's no pressure to translate your inner life into a language that doesn't quite fit.
Yes, and it matters. H-1B dependence on your employer, the years-long green-card wait, the limbo of building a life you're not sure you're allowed to keep — these are specific, draining pressures that most US therapists won't fully grasp. Ruchi treats immigration limbo as a genuine source of chronic anxiety, not background noise, and works with it directly.
Sessions are ₹2,000 for 50 minutes — about US$24 at current rates, a small fraction of typical US therapy fees. A monthly plan of four sessions is ₹7,000 (about US$84). Payment details are confirmed on WhatsApp; most US-based clients pay by international card or bank transfer.
One WhatsApp message is all it takes. Ruchi replies personally, and your first session can happen within days in a US-evening slot that works for you.
Book a session on WhatsApp