Bhujang Shetty: The eye doctor with a vision

You always remember with gratitude seniors in school who were nice to you. Such a one was Dr Bhujang Shetty, renowned ophthalmologist who passed away on Friday. The school was Baldwin’s and Bhujang was school captain, games captain, and the nicest person you could meet. 

You always remember with gratitude seniors in school who were nice to you. Such a one was Dr Bhujang Shetty, renowned ophthalmologist who passed away on Friday. The school was Baldwin’s and Bhujang was school captain, games captain, and the nicest person you could meet. 

I was five years his junior, which in school usually means we were on different planets. We were not in the same House, he was a boarder I was a day scholar, he was a star, I was barely known beyond my desk. We met because his brother Ratnakar, now an architect, was in my class, and in fact sat at the desk behind me. Bhujang saw me as a kid brother, and always took time out to say hello. It wasn’t just me of course, because Bhujang was essentially a people person and kind to everybody. 

I was too young to realise then, but the compassion he had, the calmness, were qualities that would make him the doctor he became. My memories of Bhujang in school are of a slightly heavyset boy playing hockey and talking endlessly about the game. He played football too, and as an athlete brought the school laurels. 

Through it all he displayed another quality that would serve him well in later life: the ability to work hard and enjoy it. If he wasn’t the best to start with, he would soon be, whatever he chose. All lives fall into a pattern seen from near the end, but I am sure many of Bhujang’s teachers and those who came into contact with him then saw the signs too. 

For years we lost touch, although I later reconnected with Ratnakar and their brother Balakrishna, one of the busiest eye doctors in Bengaluru. The Shettys and their cousins, all from Baldwin’s and all boarders were also all sportsmen, hockey players and swimmers mostly. 

Bhujang and I met on and off at the annual alumni meetings of our school.  I once told him he had been a boyhood hero of mine. “And you are my adult hero,” he said with that famous Shetty chuckle.

On these occasions, when those around wanted to talk to this famous ophthalmologist and institution-builder about his work, he seemed more interested in reminding a teammate how that person had scored a goal thanks to Bhujang’s pass or indeed how Bhujang himself had messed up a pass!