 Viren Shah was raised in the intensely political environment of India's struggle for freedom from British rule.He lived in Calcutta till 1935, when his father left for his hometown in Gujarat and took up the Presidency of Kathiawad Harijan Sevak Sangh and Khadi Prachar Sangh.Viren Shah had his early education in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Nashik and Wardha.