Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are multiplying. To stop them, we must preserve the drugs we have—and find new antibiotics now. Mary Millard lives with an antibiotic-resistant infection, caused by bacteria known as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, that she acquired during heart surgery in 2014.

Bounded on the north by the Himalayas, east by the Ganges River and Bay of Bengal, west by the otherworldly salt marshes known as the Rann of Kutch, and south by the spice-scented Cardamom Hills, India’s 1.4 billion citizens revere deities as diverse as their nation’s topography: the elephant-headed Ganesha, Allah of Islam, the protector-god Vishnu, Jesus, the Sikhs’ Waheguru, and many more.