[from] The Covenant of Water

by Abraham Verghese

 [In this passage, Verghese describes the experience of Mariamma, the first person in her family to go to medical school, or even college, in Southwestern India during the 1970s.  The professor there surprises the mostly male class of students with her charisma, skill and knowledge.]

              When Dr. Ramasamy first lectured to their class in the century-old Donovan Auditorium, even the murmuring backbenchers were silenced when the tall, confident woman in a short-sleeved lab coat floated in.  She had launched right into inflammation, the body’s first response to any threat, the common denominator of all disease.  In minutes she had drawn them into the thick of a battle:  the invaders (typhoid bacteria) are spotted by the hilltop sentries (macrophages), who send signals back to the castle (the bone marrow and lymph nodes).  The few aging veterans of previous battles with typhoid (memory T-lymphocytes) are roused from their beds, summoned to hastily teach untested conscripts the specific typhoid-grappling skills needed, and then to arm them with custom lances designed solely to latch onto and pierce the typhoid shield – in essence, the veterans clone their younger selves.  The same veterans of prior typhoid campaigns also assemble a biological-warfare platoon (B lymphocytes) who hastily manufacture a one-of-a-kind boiling oil (antibodies) to pour over the castle wall; it will melt the typhoid intruders’ shields, while not harming others.  Meanwhile, having heard the call to battle, the rogue mercenaries (neutrophils), armed to the teeth, stand ready.  At the first scent of spilled blood-any blood, from friend or foe–these mercenaries will go on a killing frenzy … Dr. Ramasamy kicked out the fuchsia-and-gold border of her red sari as she paced before the board.  Mariamma was reminded of the women conjured up in her mother’s sketches; the sinuous charcoal lines conveyed not just the drape of a sari but the form of the woman underneath. 

Abraham Verghese, The Covenant of Water.  Copyright 2023