A Storm in a Test Tube

Abstract

Squinting against the glare of the harsh fluorescent lights, a balding, middle aged man wearing a checked shirt and a worried look sat at the edge of the plastic chair in the white-tiled corridor of Bombay's Jaslok Hospital, tapping his foot on the floor with increasing nervousness. His wife, perched beside him outside Room 217, seemed to be a little more composed; she riffled insistently through her handbag.

In a few minutes, Dr. Indira Hinduja would estimate the chances of their being able to have a baby. They are among the 20 childless couples who queue up every day to consult the woman who headed the team responsible for the birth of Harsha Chawda, India's first officially recognised test-tube baby..