You Were Here, Before It Was Anything — Welcome to 'Out Of Syllabus'

A monthly letter of real, research-backed, unsponsored health knowledge. No noise. Once a month. Always independent.

Welcome Issue · February 2026

Dear Friend,

Let me start with the truth: I almost didn’t write this.

Not because I had nothing to say. Anyone who has spent 25 years removing tumours, holding hands in cancer wards across three countries, and then going home to explain Newton’s laws of motion to a deeply sceptical 14-year-old — always has something to say.

The problem was finding the time.

A few months ago, I asked the readers of my Bengali newsletter — 1,100+ of you who have quietly made drmanas.substack.com [the Bengali version of ‘Out of Syllabus’] a community I am unexpectedly proud of — what colour scheme you wanted for the new English publication.

You responded in numbers that surprised me.

You chose the palette. You shaped how this space would look before it had a single English word published in it.

You didn’t just vote on colours. You told me this conversation was worth having in English.

That, to me, is worth showing up for. Every single month.

So here we are. Welcome to ‘Out of Syllabus’ (nicknamed as ManChakra)— your monthly letter of real, research-backed, unsponsored health knowledge.

No noise. No agenda. Just one good read, written between hospital rounds and bedtime, by someone who still makes his own cup of tea.

This is not a wellness influencer’s newsletter.

I will not ask you to buy turmeric supplements I quietly receive a commission from.

I will not tell you that a protein shake “transformed my health.”

My health knowledge was transformed by 12+ years of training and practice in the United Kingdom — across Kent, Manchester, and Lancashire — under some of the finest gynaecological oncologists in the world, including the prestigious Monaghan lineage of onco-surgery.

The ManChakra Out of Syllabus promise:

Monthly — because good thinking takes time, and so does Sunday fish curry.

Independent — no sponsors, no brand deals, no “this post is brought to you by…” Ever. No one can influence what you read from me.

Evidence-based — cited, sourced, and held to the standard of my UK training and beyond.

“Out of Syllabus” — the things your 8-minute clinic appointment simply doesn’t have time for. The truths, those our school and college did not teach us.

For those who do not know me. 😊

I am a Gynaecological Oncologist at present in Manipal Hospitals, Salt Lake, Kolkata. My days are spent operating on cancers that — had they been caught a year earlier — often wouldn’t have needed surgery at all.

That contradiction is the engine behind everything I write.

When not in the operating theatre, I am at home arguing with a teenager about why the mitochondria really is the powerhouse of the cell. (Yes, in 2026, that joke still lands — mostly for me.)

On rare, precious Sundays, I cook. Almost always fish. Occasionally chicken. Always with significantly more kitchen drama than the dish actually requires.

My Bengali newsletter began as a whisper — a few posts for patients who wanted to understand their diagnoses beyond what a busy clinic visit could explain.

It grew into something I never anticipated: a community that reads, questions, pushes back, and shares.

Many of those readers asked me — repeatedly, persistently, the way only truly loyal readers do — to bring this conversation to English. So that knowledge could travel further.

So that a daughter in London could share it with her mother in Kolkata. So that a reader in Bangalore, or Paris, or Dubai, could find the same quality of information.

Cancer does not care what language you speak. Neither should the knowledge that prevents it.

This English space is younger — but it was built on years of trust.

Each issue will bring one deeply researched, carefully written piece. Here is a taste of what is ahead:

🔹 Why 40–50% of cancers are preventable — and why this fact never makes headlines

🔹 The symptom most women dismiss for years before a gynaecological diagnosis

🔹 What your haemoglobin levels have been quietly telling you

🔹 Screening tests & maintenance that could save your life — and the ones that probably won’t

🔹 The surprising science of why stress management advice often backfires

No algorithm anxiety. No daily clutter. Just one letter, once a month, landing in your inbox like a note from a friend who happens to have a surgical oncology degree and an occasional fish-curry-based worldview.

Your next one will be in just a few days.

If someone you care about — a mother, a sister, a friend who keeps postponing that health check-up she has been meaning to schedule since 2022 — might benefit from an honest, independent voice on women’s health, please share this with them.

Growth here will only ever be word-of-mouth. That is a feature, not a bug.

And if you have a question you have been afraid to ask a doctor, or a topic you would like me to cover next — reply to this email. I read every single message. I am slower to reply than I would like (hospital, teenager at home, fish curry — in that chaotic order), but I do read every one.

Thank you for being here. You were here before this was anything. That matters more than you know.

Expecting your love, enthusiasm & participation.

With warmth, medical evidence, and the occasional bad cooking metaphor —

Dr. Manas Chakrabarti

Gynaecological Oncologist, Kolkata.
Senior Consultant — Manipal Hospitals Salt Lake

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ManChakra is independent, unsponsored, and always will be.