In the Bonesetter’s Waiting Room: Travels Through Indian Medicine

Aarathi Prasad is a biologist and writer. She has appeared on TV and radio programmes, including BBC Radio 4, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel. She is the author of Like A Virgin: How Science is Redesigning the Rules of Sex. She lives in London.

WINNER OF BEST POPULAR MEDICINE BOOK AT THE BMA MEDICAL BOOK AWARDSLONGLISTED FOR THE 2016 JHALAK PRIZEThe story of medicine in India is rich and complex: uniting cutting-edge technological developments with ancient cultural traditions.Aarathi Prasad investigates how Indian medicine came to be the way it is. Her travels will take her to bonesetter clinics in Jaipur and Hyderabad and the waiting-rooms of Bollywood's best plastic surgeons, and introduce her to traditional healers as well as the world-beating heart surgeon who is revolutionising treatment of the poor around the globe. From the asthma treatment 'cure' that involves swallowing a live fish, to ground-breaking neuroscience happening inside the Mughal walls of old Delhi, In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room tells the story of the Indian people, in sickness and in health.In the Bonesetter's Waiting Room is published in partnership with the Wellcome Collection and will accompany a major exhibition at the Collection in Autumn 2017, exploring India's rich plurality of cultures of medicine, healing and well-being in Indian cities.Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions, events and books explore a diverse range of subjects, including consciousness, forensic medicine, emotions, sexology, identity and death. Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive, funding over 14,000 researchers and projects in more than 70 countries.wellcomecollection.org

ContentsIntroduction 11 Depressed in Dharavi 122 Bollywood Bodies 403 Knowledge for Long Life 634 The Heart of the Matter 945 Blood, Bile, Bone 1126 The Fish Doctors 1367 The Mother Goddess 1608 Rewiring the Brain 187Acknowledgements 211