In recent times, proponents of alternative sciences have been celebrated as well as chastised. This paper critically analyses the modern versus alternative science debate. Postcolonial critiques of Eurocentric constructions of modern science and recent empirical studies provide the context for this study. It does not, however, provide a defence for alternative sciences, because even though their proponents critique modern science and its Eurocentric constructions, their studies, at one level, are over-determined by claims about modern science's unified, universalistic, and Eurocentric character. There is a surfeit of academic analyses of science as well as government policy documents on scientific research in India, but these provide little insight into how particular techno-scientific researches are conducted in India. This article, through a study of magnetic resonance imaging research in India and the US, based on interviews, observations, and analysis of scientific papers, argues that the relationship between scientific practice, knowledge, and culture is contingent upon particular historical and socio-technical contexts.