In 1977 at Parambil, Mariamma begins clinic with welcome relief from her new colleague, Dr. T. T. Kesavan, who triages outpatients. A barefoot driver, Cromwell, arrives in a vehicle marked Saint Bridget’s Leprosarium and delivers a note from a physician who knew Chandy, urgently seeking her help for someone she knows and asking her to bring tools to open the skull and dura, with strict secrecy.

Mariamma meets the physician in the car: Digby Kilgour. They leave immediately to avoid attention. Without naming him, Mariamma asks after the patient; Digby confirms the man is deteriorating and barely arousable. Mariamma’s reaction makes clear it is Lenin.

Digby explains that Lenin appeared the previous night at Gwendolyn Gardens, the old estate now owned by Cromwell. Because there is a reward for Lenin’s capture, keeping him there risked betrayal, so Cromwell drove all night to Digby’s leprosarium in Travancore.

Digby reports Lenin’s vomiting and severe headache and notes that Lenin insisted Mariamma would know the diagnosis. Mariamma concludes he likely has bilateral acoustic neuromas, like her father, though she doubts she can cure him. Acknowledging the danger from police and the moral risk of aiding a fugitive, Digby emphasizes Lenin asked for her. Overwhelmed, Mariamma is moved to tears and leans on Digby, confronting the fraught choice ahead.