India, Feb. 6 -- Today, it's her knees. Shalwar rolled up until the wadded hem forms a vice grip just above her knees. I ought to tell her to take the shalwar off if she wants a proper examination, but I wonder if she expects me to ask, and so I don't. Possibly, she will conclude that I am as useless a physician as Dr Lal at JRH Awshadh. Possibly, she'll stop coming.

It is Nivvi's seventeenth visit to my clinic in as many months. Less? I flip the pages of her medical file and note that her first visit was fourteen months ago. Each visit sets her back two and a half thousand rupees, and that's just my consulting fee. There are tests, the odd prescription. Three weeks pass, and there she is again, with a new problem.

We thought it was hyp...