He still remembers the night omelette-wala outside the boys’ hostel — a man who appeared after midnight under a dim lantern, frying eggs in a pan that hissed against the dark, surrounded by a small crowd of medical students with steel plates and the particular hunger of people who have been studying since before dinner. The smell of onions and green chilli, the sound of the pan, the half-awake camaraderie of a hostel at one in the morning: Rupak Datta returns to this image when he thinks about what Sevagram truly was.

Simple, unpredictable, and unforgettable.

Barrackpore and the Steel Trunks

He was born on 3 August 1959 at Barrackpore, an Air Force Station in West Bengal. His father served as a warrant officer, which meant the family’s geography was determined by posting orders rather than preference. Barrackpore, Firozpur, Pune, Kashmir, Adampur, Delhi — each move a new school, new streets to learn before the next packing began.

Delhi stays sharpest in memory. They lived on Racecourse Road, in the shadow of the Ashoka Hotel. From the balcony he watched Indira Gandhi’s motorcade sweep past; Atal Bihari Vajpayee walked his dog with the unhurried air of a man for whom the street is merely a street; Y.B. Chavan, their neighbour, whose gate the milkman passed through before arriving at their door. To a boy, these were not political giants but familiar presences — part of the everyday rhythm of the neighbourhood.

From childhood, he wanted to be a doctor. He sat for every entrance examination available. Delhi University rejected him for its trigonometry and calculus requirements. But the Sevagram form had been filled, the examination sat, and a telegram arrived with an interview call.

The Waiting List

The interview at Sevagram placed him on the waiting list, not on the list itself. Three months passed. Then fortune tilted: three students who had been holding spots secured admission elsewhere. Into those vacancies stepped Harminder Kaur, K.P. Singh, and Rupak Datta.

“Sevagram taught him how to face success and disappointment with the same calm. That was the only luggage that mattered.”

He joined MGIMS in late 1978, three months behind his batch. By the time he arrived, friendships had formed and cliques had cohered. The Bombay group moved with effortless ease. The Delhi boys were sharp and confident. The Jat group from eastern UP were audible before they appeared. Rupak floated between these worlds, never tied to one, never turned away from any.

He was not the loudest voice in any room. His friendships formed in the quieter corners — Rameshwar Prasad Mishra with his calm wisdom, Vijay Jaiswal with his easy laughter. He drifted from room to room in the evenings, sharing tea, joining debates, simply being present. In those dimly lit hostel rooms, he found his own way of belonging — quietly, unobtrusively, but fully.

The Court Case and the Turn to Radiology

During internship, doubts arrived. He left Sevagram for Delhi, joined Gangaram Hospital to complete his internship, then moved to the Railway Hospital as a house officer. His teachers there were excellent — they taught him to manage cardiac emergencies, insert central lines, interpret ICU X-rays. He found his footing.

Two years later, he returned to Sevagram wanting to do MD Pathology. Nagpur University had a rule: students away for two years were considered outsiders. He fought the case in the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. He lost. His batchmates Anil Ballani and Bindu Bansal, represented by a young Sharad Bobde — later Chief Justice of India — won. Destiny redirected him toward radiology.

Under Dr. Sudarshan Agarwal he completed his DNB Radiology in 1992. In Delhi under Dr. A.B. Sehgal — whose patients included cricketers, film stars, and politicians — Rupak sat in the corner reading films, learning the art. Sehgal’s hospital had the first MRI centre in Delhi. That machine, humming like a creature from the future, became his daily companion.

From Kuwait to Singapore

He married Preeti in 1992 — a gynaecologist from Meerut. Then Kuwait for eleven years. FRCS. Accreditation. In 2007, he joined Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore — as large as Singapore General Hospital — where he has worked since.

The work is technically sophisticated, the distance from Sevagram measurable in decades and continents. Yet Sevagram refuses to leave him. The omelette-wala at one in the morning. Bele, the hostel assistant, who scolded them like a parent. Babulal, the canteen keeper. Teachers whose names have blurred in memory but whose influence shaped him more than he realised while it was happening.

Four and a half decades later, the 1978 batch still gathers — grey-haired, grandchildren present, laughter unchanged. Sevagram taught him how to face success and disappointment with the same calm. He arrived three months late, carrying light luggage and uncertain hope. He left with everything that turned out to matter.

Dr. Rupak Datta completed his MBBS from MGIMS, Sevagram, with the class of 1978 and his DNB in Radiology in 1992. He worked in Kuwait for eleven years before joining Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, in 2007, where he continues to practise. He married Dr. Preeti in 1992.