In 1969 Madras, Mariamma and classmates devote a year to dissecting their cadaver “Henrietta,” mastering upper limb anatomy and progressing through the syllabus. She and Anita drill for vivas with bone-identification games, while Mariamma writes home about the daunting six-essay finals and being invited by Gargoylemurthy and Cowper to the Anatomy Prize Exam. Lenin’s letters from seminary describe doubt, a rural posting in Wayanad, and a growing pull toward social justice.

Campus life turns chaotic as monkeys raid the hostels. Class president Chinnah orchestrates a tough “Indo-Simian” campaign—banning stored food, hiring slingshot urchins, and engineering embarrassments that force the administration to trim trees and fix screens. As finals near, Mariamma dreams of the “ginglymoarthrodial” joint (TMJ), but the exam asks for the ankle. She completes the paper, then performs a careful median nerve dissection for the prize exam.

Lenin writes again from Wayanad, frequenting “Moscow” (Baby’s Tea Shop), learning the region’s history of landlord oppression, and finding purpose in defending the marginalized, even as his faith wanes. On viva day, Druva freezes and says “hydrocele” instead of “hydrocephalus,” failing. Chinnah is swiftly failed by the external examiner, Dr. Brijmohan Sarkar, who bears a grudge against Chinnah’s powerful uncle.

When Mariamma enters, Sarkar praises her prize dissection, then demands she put her hand in his pocket. Cornered, she complies, realizes he has forced a sexual assault, and, in a surge of terror and fury, crushes his genitals, dragging him into a catastrophic struggle that sends specimens crashing. Chinnah and others intervene; Mariamma, bleeding from a forehead cut, is pulled away, vomits, and sobs. She strikes at Chinnah before he steadies her and apologizes; he answers with shame on behalf of men. The exam outcome remains unresolved.