Episode 4

Aarathi Prasad explores the ancient and modern in Indian medicine. Read by Sudha Bhuchar.

Indian Medicine is a fascinating mix of the ancient and the modern. From Ayurvedic treatments, which predate the Common Era, to the allopathic (Western) medicine which now operates in parallel. Aarathi Prasad takes us through the myriad medicinal worlds - from a bonesetters' clinic in Hyderabad, where breaks but not fractures are reset, via a shrine in the Dharavi megaslum (just outside of Mumbai) where the goddess Kali rules, to a fish doctor in Secunderabad who makes patients swallow live fish and a remarkable neuroscientist, Pawan Sinha, whose venture 'Project Prakash' has helped thousands of Indian children to see for the first time.

Episode 4: They come in their thousands to eat live fish.

Aarathi Prasad is a writer and geneticist. Her PhD was in molecular genetics at Imperial College and she is currently based at University College, London. Prasad has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph and Prospect Magazine, and her first book, Like A Virgin: How Science is redesigning the rules Of Sex, was published in 2012. She has written and presented TV and radio programmes, including Rewinding the Menopause and Quest for Virgin Birth for Radio 4, and Brave New World with Stephen Hawking for Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel.

Writer: Aarathi Prasad
Abridger: Pete Nichols
Reader: Sudha Bhuchar

Producer: Karen Rose
A Sweet Talk production for BBC Radio 4.