Tete-a-tete
Dr Ravi Bhatia is a pediatrician by profession. An alumnus of the Armed Forces Medical College, Dr Bhatia is an avid quizzer and has been on quiz shows. As a pediatrician he often interacts with young children and finds them lacking in knowledge about India. This inspired him to write the two quiz books.
RustleofWords: As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: I am the only child of my parents. My father is a mining engineer while my mother was a gynecologist. Since childhood I always wanted to be a doctor.
RustleofWords: You mentioned that you are an avid quizzer. When was your interest in quizzing sparked?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: My father used to tour quite often and after coming back from the tours he used to bring books as gifts for me. Some of the books were encyclopedias and my quest for knowledge began therein. Also, as a young child I have lovely memories of watching Quiz Time India, one of Mr. Siddharth Basu’s early quizzes. Incidentally the quiz was won by a team from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune. I never imagined in the wildest of my dreams that I would be doing my MBBS from the same college.
RustleofWords: From paediatrics to quizzing to writing, how did all these interests come together?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: Pediatrics is my profession, but I am a quizzer at heart. Very often over cups of tea I used to tell my wife some interesting facts which she wasn’t aware of. She once casually remarked about how I could do a quiz book for children. This gave birth to the idea of writing a quiz book. Appropriately so the book was titled Let’s Quiz Kid.
RustleofWords: What does your family think of your writing?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: I am lucky that I have had a very supportive family. They have always encouraged me to follow my passion.
RustleofWords: What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: Writing is easy, selling a book is the most difficult thing.
RustleofWords: Could you elaborate a little more? What were the roadblocks you experienced and how did you deal with them?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: The biggest raodblock has been as to how to sell the books. How to make them available at book stores.
RustleofWords: Where do you get your information or ideas for your books and how long did it take you to write your books?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: Till date I have written only quiz books, for that genre you require information and that information has to be converted into questions. I keep a note book with me always and whenever I come across any interesting information, I note it down. Both my quiz books took an average of 4 months to write.
RustleofWords: Nowadays, Google is the be all-end all of research and information. Where did you get the information needed to compile your books? How much research goes into creating your books?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: Lots and lots. I read a lot; I verify the source of information. It involves a lot of reading.
RustleofWords: How do you handle criticism or negative reviews, if any?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: (I find it) Very difficult to handle criticism, when I first received a negative review of my book it jilted me. Slowly one realizes that good and bad are both a part of the game.
RustleofWords: What is your real-life work schedule like when writing?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: I write whenever I get time. Nothing fixed as such.
RustleofWords: For your own reading, do you prefer e-books or traditional paper/hard back books? What book/s are you reading at present?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: Paperback/ hardcover any day. The to-be-read book list is growing day by day, the OPD table is full with books!
RustleofWords: Can you tell our readers about some of the more interesting quiz shows that you have conducted? Any incident that stands out in your mind? Earlier you mentioned BBC Mastermind quiz India and BQC. Would you like to throw some light on these?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: (I) Have conducted quite a few in the city where I live i.e. Udaipur. One interesting incident comes to my mind is that of an all-girls team winning an inter school quiz on the last question. Girls doing well at quizzes has been really encouraging. I also enjoyed the experience of participating in BBC Mastermind India.
RustleofWords: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: Both my quiz books are available online widely at Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press Store. I run a WhatsApp group Quizzically Yours for anyone interested in quizzing wherein I put in interesting questions.
RustleofWords: What are your plans as a quizzer and as a writer?
Dr Ravi Bhatia: I want to write a series of quiz books for children and adolescents, so that they become aware of this great nation of ours.
Those readers who are interested can get copies of Dr Bhatia’s books using the links below:
Limited-time deal: Let’s Quiz Kid : Volume-1
Limited-time deal: Let’s Quiz Kid : Volume 2
