Sitar Kumar had a choice between laser beam and clarified butter, and it wasn’t difficult for her. The ancient scriptures recommend looking at the weather, so it’s not too cold, not too hot, and not too cloudy as Sita lies in her ophthalmologist’s consulting room at Varanasi University Hospital, Ayurveda Department. An assistant kneads a dough sausage from lentil flour and puts it around Sita’s eyes like glasses that have turned out to be a bit too big. This is the tub for ghee, the melted butter. He carefully pours the warm fat on the eyes, and Sita doesn’t even flinch.

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