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. It was my days in England that 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.