Dr Kishore Shah
Dr Kishore Shah entered the portals of Sevagram when MGIMS was just a fledgling college way back in 1974. Hailing from Pune, he was heading for a career in the movies, but suddenly after acting in two films, he changed his mind and switched to Medicine. Nevertheless, he did manage to do one more movie in his final MBBS year, just before his exams.
Consistently at the top of his class, he did not stop at academics. If there was a speech competition, Kishore was the ever-ready speaker on any topic. With dignitaries visiting Sevagram, he entertained them with his yodeling in Kishore Kumar style. The notice boards of Sevagram were littered with his cartoons making various announcements. The college magazines were full of his articles and illustrations. However, the one art that fascinated him was drama, and he excelled in it. Bagging all the best actor prizes consistently, Kishore acted, directed and even wrote many excellent dramatic pieces. In fact, during the time he was in Sevagram, there was not even one drama in which Kishore did not have a role to play. He was the first person to perform MIME in Sevagram way back in 1974. In his own words, “Those who were asking what Mime was became speechless after my performance!” Taking part in all these extra-curricular activities did not deter him from passing his MBBS in flying colours, even bagging a gold medal in Physiology on the way. Spoilt for choice for PG subjects, he chose Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He says that he couldn’t have been the Gynaecologist he is if it hadn’t been for Dr. Chhabra, who was more than a teacher to him. She was also his emotional anchor.
His multi-faceted interests did not stop after he started his own hospital, Matru Seva, on Laxmi Road in Pune. Quite by chance, he started self-tutored web designing. He had many prestigious projects like Enron, Dujudwalla and Co and Business mart dotcom. Interestingly, there was a company, which wanted to hire him sight unseen and willing to pay him obscene amounts if he relocated to Bengaluru.
His articles have appeared in The Times of India, Indian Express, Mid-day, M Times and even the British Medical Journal, among others. He has illustrated many books with his cartoons ; the Divali special edition of the magazine Aakash Kandil was devoted exclusively to his cartoons.
He recalls a particularly emotional moment when he was called by the Editor of the Indian Express after he had won 12 consecutive best story awards and told that they were closing the competition because they would be accused of favouritism if they continued giving him the first prize. According to Dr Kishore Shah, the foundation of all his extra-curricular activities in which he excelled was laid down well and firmly in Sevagram.
Dr Kishore was the first moderator of the MGIMS yahoo e-group. His duty was to manage emails. However, he went well beyond that- he kept the group bubbling with joy and laughter with his nostalgic mails of his times in MGIMS (1974-1982). MGIMS e-group was born before Facebook and Whatsapp were even conceived and during his long tenure of more than 12 years, alumni – worldwide- wrote almost regularly to each other sharing the memories of their MGIMS days, and describing how MGIMS played a pivotal role in their personal and professional lives.
He has innumerable humorous stories and articles floating around the Internet. Even his travel accounts to Egypt, China, Turkey, South Africa and other places were well appreciated. In the spirit of always trying something new, he is currently working on a novel, which centers on a murder, which occurs in Sevagram. This never happened, of course, but what if?