In 1977, Mariamma rides to Saint Bridget’s leprosarium determined to find answers about her origins. She enters the operating theater, observes Digby Kilgour’s deliberate tendon transfer on a patient’s hand, and notes his credo of minimal trauma and faith in tissue planes. Her agitation simmers beneath professional habits as he works.

Before they can speak, Digby brings her to a ward where Karuppamma, a leprosy patient, demonstrates regained thumb opposition after a tendon rerouting. Digby explains the brain must learn a new command pathway—imagining ring finger movement to move the thumb—eliciting shared joy when it works. The success momentarily softens Mariamma’s anger.

As they walk, Digby describes leprosy’s true harm: loss of protective pain and, when facial nerves are damaged, failure to blink leading to corneal desiccation and blindness. From his study window they watch a resident in a white sari, disfigured hands and flattened nose, sit in the sun and scarcely blink. The sight underscores the disease’s isolating effects and Digby’s commitment.

In the study, Mariamma moves to confront him about her parents. Digby, anticipating the question, remarks on her resemblance to her mother. He then reveals that the unblinking woman in the garden is Elsie—Mariamma’s mother—alive at Saint Bridget’s and the love that anchored him there for twenty-five years. The disclosure redefines Mariamma’s past and the reasons for Digby’s life’s work.