In 1997, Kamal Shah’s world turned upside down. On his way to study in the US, Shah was completing the formalities for a student visa, which included preventive vaccinations for hepatitis, typhoid, measles, mumps and rubella. He developed a slight fever following his shots, which he dismissed as a normal side effect. Within twenty-four hours, Shah was forced to rethink. His condition deteriorated overnight, prompting an emergency rush to the hospital. Further tests revealed the unimaginable: an atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (AHUS). Kamal’s journey from that day to founding NephroPlus, India’s largest dialysis service provider and his journey ahead full of hope, courage and determination finds place in his latest book Silver Lining published by Penguin India. Excerpts.
What inspired you to pen the book?
I think I’ve been on dialysis for the last 26 years now, and I lead a completely normal life. I started NephroPlus, which is a chain of dialysis centers, we are India’s largest dialysis provider. We currently have a presence in four countries, serving 20,000 patients, and we have centers in 320 locations. So I think the whole journey, I have been talking about it in my blog, which is fairly popular among kidney disease surgeons. And many people, after they read my blog, have told me how they’ve been very inspired and they kind of kept pushing me that why don’t I write a book? It will be really inspiring for a lot of patients, not only for dialysis patients, but even those dealing with any setbacks in life, how people can overcome setbacks. You’re only constrained by your imagination and your willpower. When the pandemic happened, I had a little time on my hands, since we were all working from home. That’s when I finally started writing about three years ago.
Three years is a long time to write a book. Did you take a break?
It took me about two years to complete writing, and then one year was the entire publishing process. Publishing takes quite a lot of time because you have to prepare a pitch, and then you have to find the publisher, and there’s an editing process, and cover design. The whole publishing process itself took about a year.
Did you find it cathartic to pen down your thoughts?
Yeah. I think it was a very good journey because I have a penchant for writing. I enjoy writing, and I have already written a lot of stuff on my blog. So this was like a logical progression, and it felt really nice. So while I had captured my basic journey on the blog, the entire NephroPlus part of it was not captured in detail. So it was an interesting experience to capture the entire NephroPlus journey as well, and in the context of my own disease and my own condition, and the various initiatives we took, it was a very interesting experience to pen down the difference we made.
Did you face any challenges while writing?
All writers face writer’s block when one sits to write. But then I kind of tried to make it a habit and fixed up a time of the day when my words would flow naturally. Apart from that, getting all the pieces of information, remembering names and sequence of events, going through my old emails and talking to my colleagues and getting some more details that would make the book interesting. So all that was quite a process.
How did you manage to balance it?
Most of the book was written on weekends, when I was on holidays or early mornings after tea and meditation. That’s why I think it took two years.
How is the response to your book from your friends and family?
The response has been tremendous. I mean, my friends and family, of course, can connect to it much more than the general public. But among the general public also, the response has been pretty overwhelming. We’ve already run out of the first print. And we had to do a second print, which is currently being sold.
Will you write another book in near future?
Definitely down the line. Not immediately, though. I’m kind of thinking about two to three different topics and doing some research to figure out what would make sense and what would be interesting. I think the more important thing, I believe, is that the idea of the book should excite the author. So I am looking for that topic that will appeal to me a lot.
What sort of books do you read?
I typically read only non-fiction. I am not very much into fiction. In non-fiction, I typically read history, Indian history. I also like to read things about neurology, how the brain functions and things around genetics, genes. These three topics are particularly close to my heart and I like to pick up books on these subjects a lot.
Apart from working and dabbling in blogging, what other interests do you have?
I am a baker. I love baking sourdough bread. I swim every morning and I love travelling and I also teach kids of my Jain community, Jain philosophy.
Future plans.
NephroPlus continues to expand and we are looking at 4-5 different countries apart from where we are currently. We are currently in four countries. Hopefully in the next year or so we will go to one more country. We have shortlisted a few countries and we are looking at potential opportunities there. So that is something that is very exciting because a new geography is always a completely new challenge. We have to build the team again and so on in those countries. So that is something that we are on the professional front. On the personal front, I will continue to write.