Art Is All I See

At Dr. Pradeep Chowbey’s four-storey house, there is art in every nook and corner. A laparoscopic surgeon by profession and Chairman of Max Institute of Minimal Access, Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery, Dr. Chowbey says he has a heightened visual awareness. With some of the most significant works of Indian modern masters like M. F. Husain, S. H. Raza and Ram Kumar adorning their walls, I met Dr. Chowbey and his wife Susmita over a cup of coffee at their beautiful South Delhi home

- Rahul Kumar

It has been a long professional journey spanning five decades I was born in Bilaspur (now in Chattisgarh) and studied in Burhanpur where we lived after my father, a civil surgeon, got transferred. My primary education was in a municipality Hindi medium school. The city is historically known for the presence of the first tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, where she was buried for months till the Taj Mahal was completed. In 1968, I moved to Jabalpur for my MBBS and MS and then moved to Delhi for my practice. I attended an international surgery conference in the United States where minimally invasive surgical technique was being shown, live. That was probably the turning point in my career and I was determined to bring this technique to India. There has been no looking back ever since.

My bonding with art I used to paint casually with water colours when I was young, but during my MBBS I noticed my inclination towards art was inbuilt and natural because I thoroughly enjoyed drawing the human body anatomy diagrams. And now my surgical team sometimes sends me images on phone during surgery for guidance and I am easily able to tell where to probe by just seeing the image!

A work of N.S. Bendre was the first ever art acquisition I bought my first art work from a gallery in Delhi’s Connaught Place in 1978, a Bendre work framed by the famous Chemould Framers. I had absolutely no knowledge of art then, but I liked the work so much that I bought it for Rs. 500, which was half my monthly salary. Much later we realised that it was the work of a celebrated artist. This work still occupies prime position in our home.