Digby tends to Aavudainayaki, whose hyperthyroid symptoms improve on iodide drops but whose enormous goiter persists. She refuses referral, trusting only “Jigiby Doctor.” Honorine arranges a meeting with the renowned Dr. V. V. Ravichandran, whose lively presence, filial devotion, and barriers to overseas training reveal both charisma and constraint. Ravi pointedly asks what drove Digby across the seas, then needles the colonial elite while declaring his right to success.

In theater, Digby assists Ravi on a suspected distal gastric cancer. Finding no spread, Ravi invites Digby to perform the resection. When choosing reconstruction, Digby opts for a gastrojejunostomy over a Billroth I, citing safety in his hands; Ravi approves, teaching that the ideal operation must match the surgeon’s skill and context.

Weeks later, they prepare to remove Aavudainayaki’s goiter. Ravi demonstrates “Ravi’s sign,” showing the mass extends into the chest, and warns of airway risks. During surgery he uses his long “Ravichandran’s Spoon” to deliver the lower pole. Concerned about tracheal ring weakness and swelling, he orders a bedside tracheostomy tray and close nursing.

That night, Digby finds no nurse present, dozes, then wakes to Aavudainayaki’s stridor. He opens the fresh wound and evacuates a large clot, immediately relieving her breathing, but hesitates to summon Ravi or the theater. On morning rounds, Ravi reprimands him for not returning her to theater and not calling, then softens, praising his initiative and ending with, “Great surgeons take care of their own complications.”