"This is my real general practice," he said. "Notes on Mrs. Deshpande's arthritis, young Rohan's asthma triggers, the widow's high BP that only rises on the anniversary of her husband's death."

Dr. Mahajan wrote a referral letter, not a prescription. "Go to Nagpur. See your grandmother. Hold her hand. That is the only free download that works."

The young man scoffed. "But everything is digital now. There are apps, PDFs of your books available for free online. Why can't you just—"

While the allure of a free PDF is strong, there are significant risks associated with downloading copyrighted material from unverified sources: