{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/rx93777c8t/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Shah, K.T."]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/252/original/HPL_ArchiveBannerCDM2.jpg?1738348845","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Foundation for Indian Studies"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en\"\u003eCopyright Not Evaluated \u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce must be obtained from the Foundation for India Studies, Houston, Texas.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["Houston Public Library Special Collections"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Dr. K.T. Shah (interviewee)","Krishna Vavilala (interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2015-10-16 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["eng (primary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["Dr. K.T. Shah interviewed about culture, family, and educational background, as well as migration, contributions to the community, and work experiences."]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["digital recording, sound"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Houston (Tex.) (geographic term)","Oral histories (topical term)","Doctors (topical term)","Immigrants (topical term)","Community development (topical term)","Family life (topical term)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Keyword"]},"value":{"en":["indoamerican"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Moving Image"]}}],"summary":{"en":["Dr. K.T. Shah interviewed about culture, family, and educational background, as well as migration, contributions to the community, and work experiences."]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://rightsstatements.org/page/CNE/1.0/?language=en\"\u003eCopyright Not Evaluated \u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003ePermission to publish or reproduce must be obtained from the Foundation for India Studies, Houston, Texas.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Houston Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Houston Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/252/original/HPL_ArchiveBannerCDM2.jpg?1738348845","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/210/367/small/open-uri20231027-1243258-lbaq1r_1698433413.jpg?1698419013","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - FIS-OH0044.mp4"]},"duration":3358.2549,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/210/367/small/open-uri20231027-1243258-lbaq1r_1698433413.jpg?1698419013","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-houstonlibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/210/367/original/FIS-OH0044.mp4?1698419010","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3358.2549,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nSo that is about my family here in Houston. Now my family in India. My father’s name was Thakarshi Lallubhai Shah. My mother’s name was Prabhavati Thakarshi Shah and both have passed away at the age of 88 and 89. I have three brothers. My second brother, his name is Navneet Thakarshi Shah and he lives in Ahmedabad, India and he is an engineer and developer, building apartments and houses. He also runs a charity hospital in Ahmedabad for last 30 years.\n\nMy third brother is a physician, Internal Medicine physician and his name is Dr. Mahendra Shah. His wife is a professor of pediatrics.\n\nAnd my fourth brother’s name is Pankaj Shah and he is also an architect and an engineer, building houses and apartments in Ahmedabad, India. So that is my family in India.\n\nKV: Okay. That was a large family and do you have still connections with your family in India?\n\nKTS: Yes. I go to India almost every year. For last 30 years I have been going there almost every year and spend at least one to two months there doing a charity medical work.\n\nKV: Good. Now please tell us what college did you attend for your medical profession in India?\n\nKTS: Well, after the matriculation, I entered Gujarat College in Ahmedabad, India. We chose first year science and second inter-science examination because that was like pre-engineering or pre-medical courses to be taken for admission to the engineering college or medical college. So what happened was that actually as such right now I am a doctor, physician, practice medicine and gastroenterology in Houston, Texas for 31 years, from 1973 to 2004, it is something to mention that I never really wanted to become a doctor, I wanted to become an engineer.\n\nSo when I entered the college, I took mathematics as a major subject so that I can get admission to the engineering college, but when the result came of the inter-science examination or second year exam, I had not enough grades to qualify for admission to the engineering college and I had great difficulty actually understanding the mathematics and calculus. So then I decided to take biology as a major and try for admission to the medical college and fortunately biology was a very good subject for me. I studied hard and I got enough grades to get admitted to the medical college in 1958. So that is how I became a doctor rather than an engineer.\n\nKV: Was it difficult to transition from engineering to medicine?\n\nKTS: Yes, it was very difficult because nobody had done it before and there was a whole process that I had to go through and actually what I would like to do is it will take a few minutes to describe, so I want to go ahead with the other questions you may have and then at the end of the interview I will elaborate what happened and how did I do it.\n\nKV: Good. So did you practice medicine in India before you came to America?\n\nKTS: Yes. After my medical school graduation and actually what I would like to mention is some of the scholastic achievements that I had in my high school and in my medical college in the sense that I already mentioned about my grades and tenth number in the SSC examination. But while I was in the high school at that time Hindi language was supposed to be the national language of India after the independence. Between 1950 and 55 several people were taking extra courses to learn Hindi language. I also enrolled to take extra courses in Hindi language over and above my required study in the high school and there were four examinations of different grades.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=309.0,603.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nGrade Preliminary, Grade Intermediate, Grade Advanced and then Grade Final was the fourth grade called exam was Kovid, and Kovid was a level of graduation level in the college. So I took all four examinations one by one and actually in Kovid I studied very hard and when the result came, out of 10,000 students all over India I had the highest grades in entire India, so it was a kind of a prestigious event for me. \n\nIn medical college I like the subjects very much. I had almost completely memorized the Gray’s Anatomy in first MBBS exam and I had the highest mark in anatomy. In second MBBS, I had the highest mark in pathology and in third MBBS I had highest mark in surgery. So all three subjects I had gold medal given from the college. So these are the some of the scholastic achievements I would like to mention. \n\nThen after the MBBS examination in 1962, I required one year of rotating internship in various small towns in Gujarat and then in 1964 I started a Residency in Internal Medicine in Ahmedabad India and I passed Internal Medicine Board Examination in India called MD Medicine in 1967, and then for one year I did a full time physician job in Salvation Army Mission Hospital in a small town called Anand, near Ahmedabad. So that is the story about my background in India. \nKV: Could you tell us how much was the salary in those days in India? \nKTS: When we were in Residency the salary was 60 rupees per month and in dollar amount at that time each dollar was 5 Rupees, so we can say that the salary was about $12.00 per month and that was just enough for my food and we were given free quarters to live in the hospital because we were required to live the hospital quarters 24 hours a day. \nKV: That was a government job, right?\n\nKTS: No, it was not a government job, it was a training period, the residency. So it was not a job. The only job I did was the Salvation Army Mission Hospital where my salary was 800 rupees per month so that would be about $160.00 per month. \nKV: Quite a jump. \nKTS: Yes.\nKV: You had lot of patients in a shift in India because of the numbers in India? \nKTS: Yes. We were very busy and we would be working from morning to mid-night and the patient just kept on coming because we were being trained in a government hospital and municipal hospital, and all the poor patients would come there because we would be treating them completely free of charge. So we were very, very busy and many, many patients. Sometime there will be so many patient that there were not enough beds so we had to put the patient on the floor and try to discharge them home as soon as possible. \nKV: Because there are so many patients, obviously you are all busy, you probably could make some mistakes also, and was their accountability for doctors in India?\nKTS: Yes. At that time there was big accountability, because like when I am a resident, I had a senior resident above me, so every patient I have examined, he would examine the patient later on. If I have overlooked anything, then he would point it out to me, then the assistant professor will make rounds and he will examine the patient and he will verify that me and senior resident have not made any mistake. And then later on in the day the Professor or the Head of the Department will make rounds, so there were lot of layers of check and balance in our performance that time. \nKV: Okay. So you were very busy, but at the same time you wanted to come to America? What was the reason to think about America? \nKTS: After my Medical School graduation while I was doing my internship, we heard from our friends that there was an examination being conducted in Bombay, Mumbai now, which examination was called ECFMG, which is called the Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates. \n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=603.0,906.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\nThe headquarter being in Illinois near Chicago and they were conducting the examination in Bombay for any graduates of Indian Medical Colleges who may want to go to United States Hospital for further study. So, unless we pass that examination we would never be able to qualify to get residency or fellowship in the American Hospitals. \n\nSo, along with two of my friends we all prepared for ECFMG examination which was easy to prepare, because we had just passed our final MBBS examination and most of the subjects were fresh in our mind and we went to Bombay, appeared for the exam, the exam was free that time, there was no fee. And we passed the examination, so I got the certificate and I kept the certificate with me for several years till 1968 when I decided to come to USA and then the certificate came in very handy. \nKV: You got a job in USA before even you immigrated or you came here and found a job?\nKTS: Yes. No. I applied from India, while I was in India, while I was actually working as a physician in Salvation Army Mission Hospital; I had already decided that I want to go to USA because I had found out that even with my post graduate qualification it was very difficult to get any government job. In fact, when I inquired my Dean and professor of medicine told me that unless I and my parents have strong political influence with ministers or legislatures it would be very difficult to any job. And so I had decided to come to United States, because I was interested at that time new technique of endoscopy looking inside the stomach and looking inside the colon. \n\nSo, I started applying from India to various hospitals in Cleveland, Ohio, where my classmates Dr. Kothari was located. So, he encouraged me to apply. And because I had passed my ECFMG I was able to get position in three or four different hospitals and I selected Mt. Sinai Hospital of Cleveland Ohio to do my residency. And that is how I came to Cleveland, Ohio in July of 1968. \n\nKV: At that time did you bring your wife with you? \nKTS: Yes, when I came to United States my wife Vasantben Shah came with me, we had two year old son that we left behind with my mother, my son’s grandmother because we were advised that if we leave the child in India and my parents will take care of him and my wife will be able to do some job and our plan was to save as much money as possible in three years and come back to India and start my medical practice. So that was the plan.\nKV: So, original plan was to go back to India. \n\nKTS: That is right. When I went to United States I had every desire to come back to India and practice in India. I did not have any plan to stay permanently in United States. So, you may ask then how come I stayed here more than 45 years. So, that is also a story which I can elaborate, right now. \n\nKV: Please do, please do.   \nKTS: So what happened was that actually when I applied for visa to come to United States our visa was called J Visa, which was a medical training visa and we had to go for interview to United States Council’s office in Bombay. So what happened was that I told my person-in-charge of the Salvation Army Hospital that time that I need to go to Bombay for interview and I will have to take off two days, and he says, well, every day we have at least 100 patient coming, so there is no way you can go on a working day, you better go on like Saturday night, get your interview on Sunday and come back Sunday night. \n\nSo I explained him that the Council will never be available on Sunday, so how will I give the interview? \n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=906.0,1203.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\nHe said, well, he is boss. This Superintendent in Salvation Army Hospital was a British reverend. He was an officer of Salvation Army from England, and his superior in Bombay, Salvation Army officer was also from England and he was a very close friend of US Council. So he made special arrangement for me to have an interview with Council on a Sunday morning. \n\nSo I went to Bombay Saturday night, and then Sunday morning the Salvation Army officer picked me up in his car, took me to the Council’s office in Bombayk, and the whole office was empty except me and the council. We sat down. Council asked me several questions and then he advised that instead of J Visa, you should actually take immigrant visa. And I told him that I don’t want immigrant visa because I have no plan to stay in America. And he tried to explain me that it will be better to take immigrant visa, then I will be able to make some more money, but I was adamant. So finally he got tired and he just gave me J Visa, and with that I came to USA.\n\nSo the requirement was at that time that people with J Visa can only stay three years till they complete their medical training and then they were required to return back to their own country, which means I would have to return to India. \n\nAnd in the second or third year I came to India just to find out whether I will be able to get a job, and again I found out that unless I have some strong political influence, no jobs were available. \n\nSo I went back to Cleveland, Ohio, talked to my professor of medicine and head of the department of medicine and asked him if I can stay longer. So he immediately arranged for me to get a H-1 Visa so that I can stay longer, and he immediately offered me another job in the hospital, with double the salary. So I stayed there. \n\nAnd meanwhile, fortunately, the Senator, Ted Kennedy, who was the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and who had the control over immigration department made a rule that any doctor, foreign doctor, who is on J Visa, wants to stay in United States to practice can be given immigrant visa right away.\n\nSo my hospital secretary told me to apply for it; again, I said no, I don’t want to stay here, I want to plan to go to India, but she explained that you can still go to India, you can come back. So finally I applied and within a few months I got the immigrant visa, and because I had found out that no jobs were available in India, I decided to stay in USA and practice here.\n\nKV: Wonderful! One question comes to my mind, was there any guilt feeling in you for not going back to India and staying back here for such a long time?\n\nKTS: Yes, I always felt that I was not doing enough for my home country, and actually when I was in medical school I had read a book in ‘Reader's Digest’ about a doctor Tom Dooley, who was from St. Louis, Missouri, and he was a missionary doctor who worked for many years in Laos and Cambodia, and he at a very young age died of metastatic melanoma. And that story was in my heart and in my mind and I wanted to do some charity work and some social work all the time.\n\nSo the way I compromised was that even when I decided to stay in USA, I decided that every year I will go to India for one month and do some charity medical work there. So from 1987 to 2004, when I retired, every year for one month I would close my office and my practice, close my practice and go to India to do medical charity work all over Gujarat, sometimes in Rajasthan, and one time we also went to Pakistan when there was a big earthquake to do medical work there.\n\nKV: Very good! And you also do a lot of charity work in Houston.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=1203.0,1491.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nKTS: One of my goals was to do some charity work in Houston, which is my hometown now, and in Ahmedabad, which is my second hometown of birth. So I was involved in many social activities while I was in practice. \nFor example, I was a member of the Executive Committee of India Culture Centre (ICC) in 1975. Then I was a Trustee in Gujarati Samaj for four years. I was a Chief Trustee in Jain Samaj for four years, because I am a follower of Jain religion; my parents were Jain and I have been born in Jain family and we practice Jain religion. \nI also was Chief of Medical Department in Bellaire General Hospital for many years. I was Chief of Staff at Bellaire General Hospital for 1987. I was also President of the Indian Doctor Association of Houston in 1986. And for about ten years I was very active in BJ Medical College Alumni Association. \nAnd what happened was that, see, we are about 2,000 doctors from BJ Medical College practicing in the United States, so we would have a reunion every two years. We would raise about $100,000 every year and we would donate it to our BJ Medical College, our alma mater in Ahmedabad to buy computers, textbooks, medical equipment for teaching purposes. And over the 10-15 year period we donated total of about $1.2 million equipment to our medical college. So that was quite a program that we were carrying out and I was President of the Alumni Association for four years, I was Vice President for four years, so I was very active there. \nI also was President of an organization called AAGIO, which is the American Association of Gastroenterologists of Indian Origin of Indian Origin, so AAGIO, and there are about 1,000 doctors of Indian origin in gastroenterology all over the United States. We would gather once a year and we would have dinner and networking and some continuing medical education lectures. So that was one of the other activity I was actively doing. \n\nKV: And also you raised funds for Akshaya Patra?\n\nKTS: Yes. In 2005, when I retired, my goal was that for ten years I wanted to do charity medical work and charity non-medical work, and in 2006 to 2011 I worked for Akshaya Patra organization. \nAkshaya Patra is an NGO in India which provides free midday meal to children in government schools everyday for the entire year. And they are feeding right now about 1.4 million children everyday in 25 different cities all over India, and I was very active in establishing the Houston Chapter and help the Akshaya Patra organization in my capacity.\n\nKV: And you also helped the Charity Clinic in Houston?\n\nKTS: Yes. So one of the medical charity that I have been doing for the last ten years is that I am working as a volunteer physician in Indian Doctors Charity Clinic ,which we operate every Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and I am the Medical Director of that Clinic. I go there every Saturday and we see patients completely free of charge, without regard of nationality, race, religion, et cetera. \nAnd every Tuesday I go to Community Clinic or Ibn Sina Clinic on Wilcrest Boulevard and work as a volunteer physician there. So those are the medical charity activity I do in Houston for nine months, and three months I go to India to do my medical charity work there. And I have been doing it for the last ten years. \n\nKV: Good! And earlier you mentioned that you are a Jain, you believe in Jain philosophy. Can you please tell us a little about Jain philosophy? In what way it is different from Hindu religion?\n\nKTS: Jain religion is actually quite a separate religion from Hindu religion, even though there are some similarities, there are some differences also. \n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=1491.0,1793.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nBut the main basic principles of Jain religion are three; ahimsa or nonviolence; aparigraha or to keep material requirements of life as low as possible, and three is the anekantavada, means you respect other’s opinion and you accept that people can have more than one opinion and it is not that your opinion is the only opinion correct all the time. So those are the three basis principles for Jain religion that we try to follow.\n\nKV: Jains also cover their nose with a white cloth.\n\nKTS: Yes, at least the sadhus and even the devote Jains when they are doing rituals, they cover their mouth with a while what we call muhapatti, the purpose is that one of basic principle is nonviolence. So in India, at least in certain seasons there are lot of insects in the air, and to prevent those insects going in the nose or mouth and even inadvertently killing those insects is no good. So to prevent that they would cover their nose and mouth with this white cloth, so it was a part of the following of ahinsa principle or nonviolence principle. \n\nKV: Is it very practical?\n\nKTS: It is not very practical for everyday life, but actually when there are some epidemics where the virus or bacteria can spread by air, then it becomes very practical as far as the doctors and nurses and healthcare professionals are concerned. And even recently we had to use mask when there was a flu epidemic in certain parts of the country. So even though this practice in Jain religion is 2500 years old, even right now it has certain important meaning in the day to day life of many healthcare workers.\n\nKV: Is it an expanding religion -- Jainism will invite non-believers to join them?\n\nKTS: There is no active conversion going on, if somebody wants to become Jain, he is welcomed to become Jain, but most of the time you are Jain if your parents are Jain, especially if your mother is Jain, but there is no active conversion going on and there is no enforcement or there is no forcible conversion to Jainism. But it is all voluntary. So it is not greatly expanding religion. Jain religion is people who are born Jain, they stay Jain and that is how it works.\n\nKV: And if a Jain boy marries a non Jain girl, the children become Jain?\n\nKTS: I do not know that because it depends on the mother. And sometimes it depends on the father who is dominant and nowadays in United States many times the children try to follow different religions. So it’s a question that is very difficult to give a very accurate answer.\n\nKV: I see! And your children, three of them, they are all born in America or --?\n\nKTS: My eldest son was born in India but my two other children, the second and third one were born in America and they all follow Jain principles, they are following strict vegetarian diet and they know how to recite the main Jain shloka or sutra.\n\nKV: Very good! And there is Jain temple here in Houston?\n\nKTS: Yeah there is a one Jain temple in Houston and we usually go there every Sunday.\n\nKV: So what would be your message to the next generation, Jains particularly? Jain boys and girls?\n\nKTS: Well, everybody should be proud to be Jain and everybody should study the basic principles of Jainism and try to follow those principles, not only the rituals, but they should try to follow the basic principles in their everyday life and that is where the question of materialist possessions come into picture and actually.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=1793.0,2097.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nAnd if one is familiar with Henry Thoreau, who wanted to live his life in a small cabin with very few possessions, which influenced Mahatma Gandhi, that is a very interesting thing about Jainism that you keep your material possessions as low as possible and you try to live your life as simple as possible.\n\nKV: High thinking and simple living.\n\nKTS: That’s right.\n\nKV: That was the principle. Now, I would like to ask a question, what brought you to Houston from Cleveland?\n\nKTS: Well, I was in Cleveland, Ohio for five years, and when my training was over, again, I tried to actually go back to India and I wanted to take my gastrointestinal endoscope with me. I had done some extra work and saved enough money to buy the endoscope, which was costing about $5,000 at that time; at present it costs about $30,000, but at that time it was $5,000, and there was no endoscope in entire -- in Gujarat State, so I was going to be the first one to use endoscope there. \n\nBut the Government of India would not allow me to bring the endoscope there without me paying 110% duty, which would cost another $6,000 to me; it was impossible for me to collect that much money. I tried very hard with various departments of India Government, but those officers were very rigid and they would never allow me to bring the endoscope there, so finally I gave up. And that was another reason to decide to stay in USA and practice here.\n\nThe second thing was that when my professor in India told me that without political influence I cannot get a job, then I came back to USA after my one month journey visit to India, and I had passed my Internal Medicine Board, I had obtained my state license, so I wrote a letter to American Medical Association that I would like to practice internal medicine and gastroenterology in United States. In one week they sent me 100 different openings all over the United States where they will be very willing to give me a position so I can practice. \n\nAnd one of the city was Houston, where two hospitals were very anxious to take me on their staff and help me to set up my practice. So I decided to come to Houston because I found out from my friend, Dr. Kothari, who was here already in Houston that there is no snow here in Houston, and we were very tired of cold weather and snow in Cleveland, Ohio so we decided to come to Houston. \n\nAnd I came to Houston in 1973 and I practiced from 1973 to 2004, 31 years. And I should mention that those 31 years I maintained fairly good health. I don’t remember a single day where I had to call my office and say I am sick and cancel the patients and I cannot come; it just did not happen. So it was a very enjoyable type of work that I carried on for all those years, and I enjoyed my practice, I enjoyed being a doctor, and if I have to do it all over again I would do it again.\n\nKV: Wonderful! And since you came to Houston in 1973, have you seen -- can you describe to us what Houston was like in 1973?\n\nKTS: Well, Houston was small in 1973, it was not that crowded; it has become much bigger and much more crowed, the traffic has increased tremendously now. But we were living in an area which was close to the hospital and the elementary school was nearby and there was not much traffic in that area, called Meyerland Area, so it did not bother me that much. But now the Houston has grown, tremendous amount of traffic, and Houston has grown in population and in size.\n\nKV: So can you tell us some other changes which are very noticeable, like any landmarks in Houston which were there before, but not now, like the Albert Thomas Convention Center, which was demolished and now the Astrodome, they are talking about taking that out, so can you remember any of those?\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=2097.0,2396.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nKTS: I remember Astrodome and I remember the various rides for children; I am forgetting the name of that place, and Albert Thomas Convention Center I visited, and I feel that as the time change things also have to change, and the things cannot stay there permanently, so it is just a question of time and change. Everybody has to adjust to those changes. So it does not bother me that much if things change. \n\nNow, what I would like to mention is that many people have asked me that when you started practice here, how did you settle in your practice? How did you succeed in your practice? What did you do to establish yourself? So I can mention that when I started my practice, I started my practice outside Bellaire General Hospital, which was very close to the City of Bellaire in Southwest Houston, and I was lucky in the sense that the Bellaire Hospital, one of the general practitioner was ready to retire and he wanted his practice to be taken over by a physician that he can trust. \n\nSo he interviewed me and he talked to my training directors in Cleveland, Ohio and then he was satisfied. So he told me that he will leave entire practice to me, the rent will be free for six months to help me establish, and I will be able to work part-time in the emergency room to get some income, and he will not charge me anything for his practice. \n\nSo I started my practice in his office, he retired, and then gradually I just worked day and night. And mainly I try to see patients in consultation for various family physicians. I was ready to see patients day, evening or middle of the night. I had certain technique of examining the patient, dealing with them in a nice way, talking to them, explaining them, and creating the reports. \n\nLike for example, when I stared my practice I made sure that there were two telephone lines and two employees in the office all the time, so that if a patient calls, he does not have to face a busy signal. If one lady is busy talking to one patient and the second patient calls, then at least he gets an answer. \n\nI also had a habit, practice of dictating notes on a Dictaphone, so that every notes, every report was typewritten, and it was attached to the chart, so that anybody wants to read that report later on, or a copy sent to referring physician, he will not have to deal with any bad handwriting, because everything was typed up. \n\nAnd in the hospital when I make rounds I made sure that I was familiar with all the reports of the patient; x-ray, lab reports, because when I go and see the patient I understood that the first thing patient wants to know is what did I find out about the reports, what is wrong with it, what is a diagnosis, what is going to be the treatment plan? \n\nSo I was familiar with all this. I would take the chart with me in the patient room. I would sit down at the side of the patient’s bed so that patient feels that I am not in a hurry. I would have enough light, turn the TV off so I can talk to the patient. I would ask him certain simple questions first, whether he was able to sleep in the night, whether he was able to eat food, and whether he was able to go to use the bathroom all right, and then I would talk about his main disease and diagnosis and treatment plan. \n\nI would also always ask him, is there anything else I did not explain? Is there anything else you want to ask me? Sometime they would not ask me and then I would say, okay, I will raise the question for you and then try to answer and then be satisfied, and then only I will leave the room. If there are family members, I would make sure that the family members also understood the treatment plan and diagnosis. \n\nSo that way I was able to create enough goodwill among the patients. These patients will go back to their own doctors and give their opinion that they were treated nicely. So those referring physicians would keep on referring patients to me again and again and again, and that is the way I became successful in my practice. \n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=2396.0,2700.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nBecause there were some friends, and especially people in India will ask me that being with a skin of different color, being a foreigner, how was I able to succeed in my practice in the middle of all the American doctors, because all my referring physicians were local American doctors? But I had a reply that if you are knowledgeable, if you are sincere, and especially if you spend few extra minutes with every patient to talk to him and explain him what is going on, then it is very easy to succeed. \n\nAnd many times I noticed that by the time patient leaves the office or leaves the hospital, he may not remember everything that I have said, but he will remember one thing, and that is that doctor did try to explain, doctor did take time to explain me, and that created a tremendous satisfaction and goodwill in the patient’s mind and that helped me to succeed. \n\nAnother thing I had done was that every time patient is discharged I would prepare a detailed discharge summary, what was done, and what has to be done as an outpatient later on to complete his recovery. I would send one copy to his referring physician and I would give one copy to the patient so that he knows exactly what was done and there are no secrets. So these are the few things I would like to mention, how I established myself and how I succeeded in my practice. \n\nKV: Wonderful! You have been a successful medical practitioner all these years, one area which I want to cover is your involvement in politics, if there are any, were you politically involved in the local politics? \n\nKTS: No, I have not been involved in politics at all. I cannot say anything like that. \n\nKV: You were busy practicing? \n\nKTS: Not only busy practicing, but I also did a lot of non-medical social work, as I have mentioned. \n\nKV: Charity. \n\nKTS: Trustee in Gujarati Samaj, Trustee in Jain Samaj, President of the Indian Doctor Association, President of the BJ Medical College Alumni Association, gastroenterologist of Indian origin, so that took up a lot of my time so there was no time left for politics. \n\nKV: So professionally, what do you think of ObamaCare? \n\nKTS: Well, ObamaCare has certain good aspects, in the sense that the purpose is to try to cover health insurance for every human being in the United States. Now, there can be many problems in execution, there is a problem of expense, and since I am not in practice right now I do not know all the positive and negative things about ObamaCare so I cannot go into lot of details. But the intent is good and eventually we have to provide health coverage to every human being on this country because that is something like a basic requirement. \n\nKV: Good thoughts! Is there anything else you would like to add Dr. Shah? \n\nKTS: Well, the thing that I would like to mention is that one of the satisfying thing to me was working for BJ Medical College Alumni Association and to help our alma mater to buy computers, books, et cetera, and to actually visit the college and hospital every year when I go to India, because I would always visit medical college campus, talk to the medical students myself, in the privacy, without the presence of professors and dean so that the students can talk to me freely. \n\nAnd when I became President of the Alumni Association in 2002 I was aware and the previous presidents had told me that the library of BJ Medical College is in bad shape and no up-to-date books have been purchased. So I decided to visit the library. I found out that all the textbooks were very old and outdated, no up-to-date textbook had been purchased in ten years when I visited the library. \n\nSo I visited the librarian and the dean, they told me that government had not sanctioned any money, so they could not buy any books. So then we had a meeting with dean, all the head of the departments and the Secretary of the Health Ministry of Gujarat Government, who had the ultimate power in sanctioning funds for the maintenance of medical college. \n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=2700.0,3011.0"},{"id":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367/transcript/60441/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":")\n\nAnd during the meeting I mentioned to the Secretary that there is no up-to-date textbooks available in the library. He immediately told me that there were no funds available so nothing can be done. But then his assistant, who was sitting next to me said, that there were 1 crore rupees allocated for medical colleges in Gujarat for audiovisual equipment, and out of that 10 lakh rupees can be spared to buy textbooks. \n\nSo I told the Secretary in front of the dean and all the head of the department that if the government can sanction 10 lakh rupees for books, I would bring equal amount of 10 lakh rupees from my friends in USA and raise donation from the USA and bring it here so we will have 20 lakh rupees and we will be able to buy at least 2,000 new textbooks. \n\nSo Secretary agreed and he said, you bring 10 lakh rupees and we will give 10 lakh rupees here. So then, that was a month of February, I took photographs of that meeting. After coming back I published a newsletter sending to all my members, and actually out of five different members, including myself, each one gave $5,000 donation, so we raised $25,000, which would be almost equal to 10 lakh rupees at that time. \n\nIn the month of March the librarian wrote to me that when are you bringing your 10 lakh rupees and I said I will bring the 10 lakh when the government gives 10 lakh rupees. So in April she sent me an email that 10 lakh rupee check had arrived from Gujarat Government and they will be buying books, so I should bring my money from USA. \n\nThen in month of May she wrote me back that the Gujarat Government had notified her that the issue of the 10 lakh rupee check was a mistake, there were no funds available, and the 10 lakh rupee that the government had given will be canceled. So this was a very disappointing and distressing thing for me, because now what am I to going to tell my doctors here in USA that I had already promised that government will give the 10 lakh rupees. \n\nSo in the month of June I went to visit my mother here; she had fallen down and had a fracture, so when I was visiting her in Ahmedabad, I met some of my doctor friends to try to get their help, and they all told me that nothing can be done, but only thing can be done is that you go and meet Narendra Modi personally, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat that time. \n\nSo after multiple phone calls I was able to meet him. I explained him everything what has happened and I told him that we have raised 10 lakh rupees in USA and now government issued the 10 lakh rupee check, government canceled it, so we are in a very bad shape and bad predicament. \n\nSo he listened to everything and then I came back to USA. In August I got an email from librarian that government had reissued the 10 lakh rupee check and now I should bring my 10 lakh rupee. I said fine. So I said, you go ahead and buy the books from this 10 lakh rupees, I will be there in November, and once I verify I will have my 10 lakh rupees ready. \n\nSo I came here in November or December that year. I verified that all the books had arrived from the government fund, so I invited all the medical students, faculty, and even the servants of the medical college for a dinner one evening, invited the health minister, and gave 10 lakh rupee check that I had collected from my friends in USA. \n\nSo that was a very satisfying adventure for me. And finally we got total of 2,000 new textbooks for BJ Medical College Library. So that is something I would like to mention, that is one of the example of what I was trying to do. \n\nKV: Wonderful! Excellent! Dr. Shah, you have done so many things for India and for America, how would you like to be remembered, very shortly, in a couple of sentences please?\n\nKTS: Well, if I have a choice I would like to be remembered as a good doctor and a good human being. Those are the two important things to me. Whether material possession or whether I collected millions of dollar is not important to me. And in fact, I would like to die not rich, when I die I don’t want to be rich, because I want to donate whatever amount I can donate to various charities and that way I don’t have too many material possessions when I die. That’s what one of my desire. \n\nKV: You are a wonderful human being Dr. Shah. Thank you very much for giving us this interview on behalf of the Foundation for India Studies! We thank you so much! \n\nKTS: And I thank you for giving me this chance of talking about my life story and I hope that it will be something helpful and inspiring to the future generations. \n\nKV: That is what we want to do. Thank you very much!\n\nKTS: Thank you very much!","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://houstonlibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/2436/collection_resources/108922/file/210367#t=3011.0,3358.2549"}]}]}]}