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Getting to know Dr Prasad
Shetty: His lighter side
Your
idea of a perfect holiday?
Oh! I have fantastic ideas on holidays. I just want to be on seashore
with my wife and children. I have got 4 kids and I love my children.
Just want to spend time playing with them. The place doesn't matter
as long as it is with them.
Favourite Cuisine?
Indian food - South Indian. Whether in Switzerland, America or England,
I always look for South Indian food or some Indian food. My days
in England were the most miserable, I never enjoyed the food.
What kind of book would one find on Dr Devi Prasad Shetty's bedside
table?
You will be surprised. It would be books on Finance Management.
All time favourite book?
Godfather. Doesn't fit in with my image!
Music?
Any soothing music will do. I always have some music playing at
the back-ground in the operation theatre. I prefer santoor or piano.
Classical, any kind!
Performing arts, concerts, plays, movies?
No& no. I haven't been going. I sometimes take my children for
kid's movies and I enjoy more than them.
You have recently relocated in Bangalore? Is there any particular
reason that you chose Bangalore?
I
was working for the heart hospital set up by the Birlas in Calcutta.
The years I spent there were nice. I wanted to set up a heart hospital
for the poor. I didn't have the money to set it up because setting
up heart hospitals is very expensive. Also when you are working
in an organisation in a city, you cannot set up a hospital next
door and so I came to Bangalore and then built the hospital in Calcutta.
Last month, Mr Jyothi Basu inaugurated our hospital in Calcutta-
the government of West Bengal granted the site. It is called the
Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Science.
In Bangalore there are a lot of good people and this city is going
to be a model city for the rest of the country. How the country
should grow, how the people should behave. But given a choice I
would like to live in Calcutta. I love that city. I lived there
for about nine years.
What is it like to save lives?
Nothing like it! Nothing in this world can compensate for being
responsible for lives. In the 13,000 afflicted families, a certain
drama unfolds the moment they are told that a heart operation is
required. This drama lasts for 3 weeks with the fear, anxiety&
where is the money going to come from? And, guess what, in that
entire drama, (spreading his arms dramatically, eyes twinkling)
I am the hero. So you may say that even if someone offers
me a few million dollars to change places with me, I wouldn't like
to do that.
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