Context: Anaesthesiology is still considered as behind the curtain speciality despite so much advancement and perception of anaesthetist is poor among masses. Aims: The aim of our study was to know the perception towards anaesthetist and anaesthesia in rural population and suggest various remedies to improve it. Settings and Design: 424 patients from rural background were included in the study. Material and methods: An anonymous, pretested, semi–structured questionnaire designed for evaluating the perception of pre surgical patients towards anaesthesia and anaesthetist was prepared. The questionnaire consisted of three parts i.e demographic characteristics, perception of anaesthetist and perception and knowledge of patients regarding anaesthesia. Statistical analysis used: Since this is an observational study, collected data is expressed as percentages. Results: Analysis of the data revealed that knowledge of patients regarding anaesthetist is poor in the study population. Only 67.9% of patients had heard of anaesthetist and among those, 76.7% came to know about anaesthetist when the surgeon told them to get fitness for surgery. Patients were not even aware that anaesthetist stays with them during surgery. Conclusions: Inspite of being a multimodal medical branch people know little about anaesthetist and anaesthesia and public perception about anaesthetist remain poor especially in rural areas. A good communication between patient and anaesthetist and a visit by anaesthetist in post operative period will go a long way in improving the perception towards this speciality.