Part Three: Chapter Seventeen, A Passage to India Summary and Analysis

At the age of seven a sizable tumor is discovered in Bhagawhandi's brain. The tumor is removed and for the next ten years Bhagawhandi lives a full and normal life. Then, at the age of eighteen, the tumor is rediscovered. At nineteen Bhagawhandi is admitted to the hospice where Dr. Sacks works.

At first Bhagawhandi remains in relatively good humor and seems to accept her fate. However, as her tumor grows she begins to suffer from severe and strange seizures. These new seizures are characterized by a dreamy state in which Bhagawhandi sees visions of her native India. Bhagawhandi is not bothered by these visions but instead finds them comforting. At first Sacks thinks Bhagawhandi is suffering from a steroid psychosis, but her visions lack the disorganization...