The morning air inside the community medicine ward carried a faint blend of antiseptic and chalk dust. Rows of benches lined the corridor where students in white coats sat with their notebooks open, some attentive, others restless.

Aarushi sat in the middle row, a little notebook balanced neatly on her lap. Her group was posted here for the week, and the doctor assigned to them—a tall, bespectacled man in his early forties—stood at the front, leaning against the wooden desk as he explained today’s case study.