Migration causes layers of displacement, cultural disorientation, and a continuous fight for identity for expatriate women, particularly those from India. Relocating to a new cultural environment after leaving one’s home country can be both freeing and limiting. Nonetheless, Indian women who relocate for marriage frequently feel exiled from both their sense of independence and their birthplace. The term ‘transcultural inertia’ is explored in the paper to characterise the protagonist Dimple’s incapacity to overcome cultural differences and her continued emotional and ideological immobility, which prevents her from completely adjusting to her new surroundings in Bharati Mukherjee’s Wife (1975). It investigates the primary causes of this inertia, including psychological and cultural dissonance associated with migration, silent stagnation and lack of agency, conformity and subjugation in the pursuit of autonomy, and emotional dislocation and fragmented belonging. It is explained through critical frameworks such as postcolonial and feminist critiques, as well as Sara Ahmed’s theory of affect, particularly her concept of affective economies. Finally, the paper considers how this inertia can be overcome in the modern era, where immigrant women’s stories indicate a shift towards agency, resilience, and cultural negotiation.