The studies of transnational migration have long been emphasized on labour equilibrium,
economic remittances, problems at destination, the migrants themselves, and the arena of
immigration studies in legal frameworks. It is not a new phenomenon, but has not gained
attention of researchers, development workers and policy makers as an emergent social
field, until recently. The field comprises persons who are engaged in living simultaneously
in two spaces and making a living through regular contact across national
borders. This paper aims to highlight the significance of non-migrating members in the
phenomenon of migration and see how they experience it without physically moving.
Drawing upon the stories of the women left behind by migrant workers in an eastern rural
village of Nepal, the paper shows that like migrant husbands they also experience living
transnationally, not by changing places but by actively participating in migration
decisions and using modern means of communication like mobile phones during
migration. They spend time together with their husbands over the phone on household
management: receiving direction on household affairs and mobilizing resources. This
double engagement of both husband and wife in ‘here’ and ‘there’ is narrowing down the
boundary between the places of origin and destination and putting them into a single
social field.