Once a land of bare-breasted women and reigning matrilinies, the southern Indian state of Kerala now boasts a ‘properly’ covered-up, ‘civilised’ and fully patrilineal population. Although the colonisers are long gone physically, Kerala society seems to have adopted excerpts of what was once a foreign moral code that was antithetical to its indigenous cultures as the new normal. When it comes to the female body and sexuality, the coloniser’s long abandoned moral code focusing on the suppression of female sexuality and the feminine form is now considered as tradition, wilfully forgetting the not-too-distant past where a significant proportion of women enjoyed more bodily freedom. Strict adherence to the prescribed traditionality of colonial norms and values is reflected in the everyday lives of Keralites, influencing their choices and behaviours in all aspects of life, ranging from dress code to health decisions. This is the context in which the women of Kerala are asked to take responsibility for their breast cancer detection. Limited resources of a developing state and the rapidly growing demands of its ageing population make the healthcare infrastructure in Kerala, lauded as it is, insufficient to shoulder the burden of non-communicable diseases such as cancer. Labelled as a ‘lifestyle’ disease that is preventable with behavioural modification and treatable if detected early, breast cancer accounts for over 25% of female cancers in the state. In this paper, drawing from ethnographic research among 30 breast cancer patients and survivors, I show that a majority of my participants point out the unfamiliarity in looking, feeling and voicing the needs of their bodies. In so doing, I examine how female bodies are silenced in Kerala to the detriment of their health and well-being and argue that early detection, whether by self or clinic, remains an underrealised imagination in the state.