No, this is not a reminiscence of my time spent in a Hyderabad bonesetter's waiting room - it's Aarathi Prasad who did that in her book of the same name!
Being a 'promiscuous' reader, wont to plough through parts of half a dozen books on a typical evening, I don't recall fully the last one which gripped my attention enough for me to suspend all other readings and finish one book - perhaps 'And Then There Were None' (or maybe 'The Sittaford Mystery'). So Aarathi Prasad is in venerable company when she forced me to do that. And to think that I came across the book in a list of Prasad's past works, in a piece on her latest book in 'The Hindu', with the cover being a definite draw evoking intriguing feelings.
I'd imagine it's difficult enough to hold readers' attention in a non fiction narrative dealing in as dry a domain as India's healthcare system, laying out the mortality and morbidity figures in between. But to do that in an empathetic tone all through, while keeping the reader engaged in delightful stories of both hope and despair, is the work of a master storyteller.
And here's the catch: it's difficult to define the book as belonging to one specific genre. Is it science, is it history, or is it plain human narrative! The science part comes in through Prasad's credentials as a PhD in genetics and working with University College London. Doubtless this enables her to look deep into the intricacies and claims of 'Ayush' systems of Indian indigenous medicine, in an empathetic and non-patronising manner but also keeping her scientific scepticism alive as needed. The empathy probably comes, as she herself admits, from the fact that her grandfather was a Ayurveda researcher and teacher, and a member of a post-1947 Chopra Committee of Government on integrating indigenous and Western medicine systems. Prasad's mother filled her in on his work.
Whether talking about the Unani bonesetters of Hyderabad, the Ayurvedic 'fish doctors' of Secunderabad or the myriad other indigenous medicine practitioners, Prasad acknowledge that they 'fill in the gaps' in India's healthcare system, seemingly available on call to the relatively rich but quite inaccessible for the people who direly need it for life threatening conditions, and thus cannot just be dismissed peremptorily. She details the ways in which many Ayush practitioners have made sincere efforts to get themselves certified as also integrate modern medical instruments and methods where needed into their regimen.
Alongside, Prasad narrates the huge work done by the redoubtable Dr Devi Shetty in Bengaluru and elsewhere, the stellar efforts of the National Ayurveda Dietetics Research Institute and the Sam Pitroda-founded Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, both in Bengaluru, the Central Research Insitute of Unani Medicine in Hyderbad, and a host of other such institutions and individuals.
But clearly, it's the descriptions of the human condition which sets this book apart and raises it above a dry narrative. The way the doctors and staff at the hospital in Dharavi slums in Mumbai, where Prasad waded through ankle deep slush to reach community workers, work within and with the community, even addressing the long-ignored psychological issues espcially of women. The factors why a range of people across social divides are increasingly going in for plastic surgery. How the SEARCH rural hospital, in Naxalite-infested Gadchiroli jungles in Maharashtra (the innovations of which were duly acknowledged even by international bodies and rolled out in other countries), came to be designed and named by the Gond tribal community it serves, to give them comfort. These she describes in excellent detail and perhaps better than any professional NGO communicator could (it helps that after her PhD, Prasad worked in science policy and communication).
All through, Prasad deftly weaves in the history of both indigenous and Western ('Hippocratic') medicine systems, 16th century onwards and earlier, showing that in their essence perhaps these systems were not as watertight as thought. And while on history, she waxes lyrical at the way an hour long drive through Delhi is like driving through centuries, or how the history of old city of Hyderbad comes alive in the solitude of night. That she starts and ends the book with Marcel Proust quotes is the icing on the cake!
This is one book that those who have anything to do with the healthcare and the social development sector, especially in India, should read compulsorily, to inculcate an empathetic but also knowledgeable frame of mind about healthcare in India. But for an interested reader, it's a jolly good read anyway.
