Shah Nat Dr.

Article by Kathleen Hay
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27 February 2007

Dr. Nat Shah, seen here playing his Indian banjo, might very well have become a maestro of an orchestra, if he hadn't chosen a career in medicine. The local physician is a vegetarian but chuckles that he never had a problem dissecting people .

Nat Shah is a man who wears many hats. A lauded local physician, honoured with a Life Membership by the Ontario Medical Association in 2006 for his outstanding contributions, he was also named Physician of the Year (Eastern Region), by the Ontario College' of Family Physicians that same year.

Shah, a native of India and general surgeon, came to Canada in the 1960s, where he practiced in London, Ontario. Although he planned on relocating to Montreal to switch gears to emergency room physician, fate intervened and his young family moved to Cornwall.

In addition to his busy medical practice both in Cornwall and Apple Hill, it's his role as an active volunteer which has struck home with many people. A founder and director of Child Haven International, he and his wife, Kulwant, were instrumental in building and founding the Sikh Education Research Centre. He was also a medical advisor for the former Mount Carmel House, in St. Raphael's, to help those with chemical dependencies. Shah was also instrumental in the formation of the Association of Indo-Canadian
Physicians (AICP) and, with colleagues, he spearheaded the Cornwall Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP). He is also a past president of the Heart and Stroke Foundation and is one of the founders of the Jain Meditation International Centre (Canada).

Cornwall's Citizen of the Year in 1984, he has volunteered his medical expertise for, many years with Worldfest/Festimonde, Heart and Stroke Foundation, Champs Boxing, Cornwall Royals, Children's Treatment Centre, the Shriners, and S, D & G Highlanders. But there's more than medicine to the man.

Shah is a former professional cricket player who also loves music - including playing the Indian banjo - and has a voracious appetite for movies and even television, when time permits.

Q1. What's your full name? Were you named after anyone? Natavarlal Hiralal Shah. My, aunt choose the name Natavarlal. It's a indu name which means God of Dancers. It's a happy symbol. You usually choose a name by making a special horoscope depending on the day, time and direction of your star. Hiralal was the first name of my father.

Q2. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Miyagam-Karjan, which were twin cities, with a railroad running between both parts. There were small industries, a lot of cotton factories, plus lots of music and culture. One of the best directors in Indian cinema, Mehboob Khan, was from my city, which was where he filmed Mother India. He never forgot he was from a small town.

Q3. If you weren't a physician, what would you be? I would have been a cricketer or an orchestra conductor. I played professional cricket with Gujarat. I was a bowler and also a wicket keeper. I love music, too. I've played the Indian banjo, kind of like a sitar, since I was age five.

Q 4. Was it love at first sight when you saw your future wife, Kulwant?
When you're in graduate school in India, your parents would line-up girls for arranged marriages. I always avoided that but I knew it was coming once my exams were done. I went to New Safdarjung Hospital. There were residences, like small apartments for the doctors. Mine was on the fourth floor and one day I was sitting on the balcony, and I saw Kulwant (who was an oncology nurse) walking into the hospital. I thought, "This is the girl I'm going to marry."

Q5. Where did you go on your first date with Kulwant? We started dating about one month after we met. I knew she wasn't much keen on me, but I thought I'll ask her anyway. She said yes and first we went to temple, then a movie, "Waqt," which means 'time.' So time will tell!

Q6. How did you meet His Holiness the Dalai Lama? What's he like? I was helping a filmmaker I knew, Jonathon Kay, with a movie, "Walking Alter Midnight," he was filming in India. The movie was about reincarnation and there were a lot of stars in it, people like Martin Sheen, Willie Nelson, Ringo Starr, James Coburn and the Dalai Lama. We were all guests of Dalai Lama for two weeks in Bodh Gaya where he lived. We sat together every day and we would hear him chant. He was a very gracious and charming man, a very soothing person.

Q7. What's your favourite medical show? M* A SH. My favourite character was Hot Lips Houlihan. She's cute. I still watch it. It's a very good show.

Q8. What would you like to say on national television? I still believe non-violence is the way to go. I believe in everybody's right to live and let live on this planet. We have to be tolerant and respect each others' faith, and to tell the truth. I believe in caring and sharing. If you have more money than you need, give it to somebody else.

Q9. What's the best advice anyone ever gave you? It came from my father. If you get something in your life, don't show excitement. If you lose anything, don't be sad. My boss, Kulwan is a great supporter for me, too. Because of her, I have faith and she encourages me.

Q10. If you could have lunch with any person, living or deceased, who would it be? No.1 - Mahatma Gandhi, No.2 - Nelson Mandela, No.3 - Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, No.4 Bill Clinton, No.5 - Winston Churchill.

Q11. Do you believe in reincarnation? Yes, I do. The reincarnation means you have to do good things in whatever time you have on this Earth. There's a quote by George Harrison which I think is good: "There'll come a time when most of us return here - Brought back by our desire to be a perfect entity - Living through a million years of crying - Until you've realized the Art of Dying."

Q3. What's your favourite vegetarian meal? It's called khichari. Really a hodge-podge of putting anything into the pot. It's made with rice and lentils, and you can make it plain with some spices, or put some vegetables into it. It's very easy to digest.

Q14. What music is in your CD player now? It's the Sukhmani Sahib, chanted by Prof. Satnam Singh Sethi. It gives you comfort for your
soul.

Q15. What's your favourite toy? The Indian banjo. I still play today. I found my first one in someone's garbage when I was out five. They had thrown it out. I brought it home and started playing. My father didn't like it. He was very conservative - no games, no music. He thought it would distract my education.

Q16. You helped found Child Haven International with Fred and Bonnie Cappuccino. Is there a special child you remember who especially touched your heart? They all make me happy, but one child, Sweta Gupta, who we called Pinky, was a 17 month-old baby girl we brought to Canada for surgery in 1987. She had four holes in her heart and Dr. Wilbert Keon did the surgery. We used to think we gave her life, but she was the one who really gave Child Haven life. We still visit her every year in Hyderabad, India and she's doing fine. A charming person.

Q17. What would your wife say is your worst habit? Clothes not being put in the proper place. I tend to leave things, like my ties, where they shouldn't be left. Everything has it's proper place.

Q18. What course did you like least in medical school? Best? I liked all my subjects, but not organic chemistry. My favourite was anatomy. I liked to dissect the body. I cannot eat meat, but I can cut anybody.

Q19. Do you collect anything? I've been collecting stamps since age five. I have millions of them. I love to collect them - it's not only about the stamps, but it's the art, culture and history of a country.

Q20. What was your first job? I worked in my father's cloth store. He was a fabric merchant - all types of fabrics - silks, woolens, cotton, whatever. The first thing you would do when a customer entered the store was to offer them a glass of water because it was so hot. I'd help him with packing or folding the cloths.