"The Treatment of Bibi Haldar" Summary

Bibi Haldar is a twenty-nine year old female who suffers from an undiagnosed ailment. She is treated by spiritual healers, charlatans and medical doctors. She is taken to holy sites, medical facilities and Calcutta in hopes of a cure. Many proposed treatments conflict with other proposed treatments. The methods vary, but the results remain unsuccessful. The ailment struck all of a sudden. She is confined to the building where her cousin and wife rent an apartment. Bibi might collapse and fall into an episode at any time. She is unable to go out on her own because of that risk. Bibi spends her days in a low-ceilinged storage room on the roof. For a living she sits in the storage room recording the inventory of her cousin's courtyard cosmetics business. The storage room...