Vik and Sarina Dosanjh
They are not clinicians. They are a couple who lived five years of loss, and decided no one else should have to grieve it alone.
In November 2020, on their engagement anniversary, Sarina found out she was pregnant. A month later a scan showed no heartbeat. Under COVID rules she heard the words "missed miscarriage" alone, while Vik waited in the hospital car park. What followed was five years, three miscarriages and a failed IVF cycle. Testing showed Sarina had a low ovarian reserve and Vik a low sperm count, and somehow that made it feel shared, not one person's fault.
Naming what the culture keeps quiet
In Punjabi culture, infertility and baby loss are often treated as bad luck or nazar, and couples are quietly left out of celebrating other people's newborns. Vik began to speak about the silence around South Asian men and grief. Their Sikh faith carried them from anger at God toward chardi kala, a state of eternal optimism. Their BBC One documentary, Love, Faith and Me: Married, Sikh and Wanting a Baby, put the conversation on national television.
They built The Himmat Collective, himmat meaning courage, running monthly online and in-person spaces for South Asian couples and individuals navigating infertility, IVF and baby loss, with space made specifically for South Asian men. They are ambassadors for Tommy's and Sands, run workshops with Taraki, and have taken their story to Radio 4's Woman's Hour.
Himmat does not mean the fear goes away. It means finding the courage to speak anyway.
This resonates:
Shared with the Appy & Yaar community.