New Delhi, Feb. 16 -- On a weekday, a sharp pain in my tummy told me I should head not to work, but for an ultrasound. Winter was on its way out, and the softness of spring would arrive soon. My body was on a different journey though-on a winding path of pain and discomfort.

Lying in a pool of sterilised light on an ultrasound table, I felt the impossible dichotomy each patient feels. The doctor looks you over in a cool, detached way, even as the blood pounds passionately in your ears. You may be in thousands of photos, but a strange shyness engulfs you when the camera moves inwards towards your organs. We don't want to be splayed on medical beds with fake bravado as someone gazes at what is inside: Something that is intimately ours, but...