The patient is rake thin, with arms like sticks and glazed eyes. He stands in front of Dr Varaprasad, card and notebook in hand. The 55-year-old senior medical officer removes his glasses, slides them into his pocket, rubs his nose and bends over the card which has the man’s personal details. He looks up from the card at the day’s first patient. “How are you?” The question is a probe as well as a solicitous inquiry. “OK,” the man says, as if speaking to a long-term acquai