Natesan Rangabashyam, who was based in Madras, established the subspecialty of surgical gastroenterology in India. He was born on 5 November 1936, the son of a general practitioner. He originally intended to become a pilot, but joined Loyola College in Madras to study natural sciences. He then studied medicine at Madras Medical College. During his studies he was influenced by Sadashivam, the first cardiothoracic surgeon in Tamil Nadu. Rangabashyam qualified MB BS in 1957. He then went to the UK, intending to study for the FRCS in London, but when he arrived he changed his mind and went to Edinburgh, where he joined the primary course at the Royal College of Surgeons there. He stayed in the UK for five years. He passed the primary examination at the second attempt and then went to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Rhyl, north Wales, as a medical officer, where he began to learn surgical gastroenterology with Ivor Lewis and Owen Daniels. He gained his FRCS Edinburgh in 1963. He then went to the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, working with Small, Card and Falconer for six months. He subsequently returned to the Royal Alexandra Hospital as a surgical registrar and later went as an observer to Liverpool and to St Mark's Hospital in London. Rangabashyam returned to India and in 1964 was appointed as an honorary surgeon and clinical professor of surgery at Thanjavur Medical College and Hospital, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. Here he started laparoscopy as well as a gastrointestinal clinic. He also introduced selective vagotomy and carried out his first hepatic resection. In 1969 he became a consultant surgeon at Stanley Medical College and Hospital, Madras. From 1975, he was head of the department of surgical gastroenterology and honorary clinical professor of surgery at the Madras Medical College and Government General Hospital, Madras. The department was the first in India: he also started the first MCh course in surgical gastroenterology. He delivered lectures at national and international conferences, and was an examiner in India Malaysia, Nepal and in the UK (for the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh). He was an honorary surgeon to the president of India, honorary secretary and then president (in 1987) of the Association of Surgeons of India and president of the Indian Society of Gastroenterology (in 1983). He was a fellow of the International College of Surgeons, of the International Academy of Proctology and the American College of Surgeons. He was presented with the Padma Bhushan (a civilian award in India) in 2002, and was given the prestigious B C Roy award on two occasions. He married Chitralekha in 1964, they had a son, Omprakash, and a daughter, Mahalakshmi. He died in his sleep on 13 July 2013. He was 79.