Author of the first book Fourth KissDr. Abhinav Atul is as versatile as the name of his blog, Versatile doctor, suggests. This highly diverse appointment is best shown on her YouTube channel, where she talks about a variety of topics including movies, shows, car care, cooking, gadgets, and physical well-being.
MBBS and Diploma in Industrial Health, both from Kolkata, the author has been working as an occupational health doctor for the past 8 years. The combination of his experience and education gives him a unique outlook on life, and he enjoys incorporating it into his writing as well.
Her first book is a testament to her ability to write The Fourth Kiss and her skill as a moving and moving storyteller. The book tells the story of Hrishi and Preety, who meet in an arranged wedding setting but end up falling in love with each other. The appeal of the book lies in the fact that it tells an extraordinary story of ordinary Indians, and at the same time deals with social change in love and consensual marriage and sexual compatibility in a love relationship.
The author currently works as an occupational health professional in a multinational FMCG manufacturing unit in Hamirpur (Uttar Pradesh). Asked about his favorite in literature, he gives his name Dan Brown and his book Angels and Devils, at the top of his list. He is also inspired by the writings of Stephenie Meyer and Chetan Bhagat.
When he doesn’t work or write, he loves spending time with his family, including his loving wife, parents, and little brother. Hollywood movies and video editions are also enthusiastic. As an author, Dr. Abhinav Atul wants to write characters that enhance the voice of ordinary Indians and make his readers find them relevant and unique.
We were lucky enough to have an honest conversation with BookGeeks. Here’s what he said about books, his love of reading, writing, and his first book, The Fourth Kiss.
| Tell me something about yourself? Who is Dr. Abhinav Atul as a person? What are his likes and dislikes? |
| To tell you about me, I have to start from the beginning. At school, be it understanding, be it Hindi or English, we had some questions: describe in your own words why this character in the story did … things like that. I took the instruction literally: I never copied a part of the story or poem that referred to the question. I have always created sentences from a context that I understand from the story.
That’s always been my engine: to do something, to create something. I like it and I don’t like it: I like coffee, I like food, I like Hollywood movies, and I don’t like people who think they know everything. Those who have a strong opinion of everything and who do not hesitate to give a part of themselves whether they want to or not. |
| Tell us about the work you do in your professional field. Has it affected your writing? |
| I’m an Occupational Health Practitioner, and that’s not so well-known in the field of medicine, a branch of “preventive medicine”. So I’m pretty used to explaining what I do; when I tell someone I’m a doctor, their follow-up question, understandably, is “what are you a doctor for?” Then when I say I’m in Occupational Health people don’t hear any news of this term.
Occupational Health is the branch of medical sciences that works with people in terms of occupational health. Whatever people are working for, whatever their profession, it has some health risks and consequences. That’s what I care about; and not just treating diseases and caring for injuries, my job is primarily to prevent diseases. This takes many forms, from occupational risk assessment to pre-employment and routine medical examinations, advice on administrative and legal compliance, and so on. Every day, I see patients and consult them as a general practitioner. Does my writing influence my profession? Of course. In part because of my knowledge of the medical sciences and my focus on physical and mental health, this awareness is often embedded in my writing. But so far, I haven’t written any dramas or stories directly based on a doctor’s experiences. |
| When did you feel that desire to be a writer? What or who affected you? |
| My desire to write came to school. At one stage in my life, as I was discovering myself and my personality, as I was exploring the shells of the inner version, I saw that I would love to write school plays, poems, and essays.
At the risk of appearing cheap, the main influence that pushed me to write was a feeling of recognition. It gave me a way of life and shaped my personality: that’s a great thing for an insider. The pressures of education and the expectations of my parents pretty much turned off the spark of writing, even though I limited the number of books I read. |
| Tell us about your debut book, The Fourth Kiss. What can readers expect from this? |
| If you summarize the fourth kiss in a line, it’s a story about growth, change, and rediscovery. The story is about an average middle class person who could have been any of us.
He’s not a super-rich, highly successful, six-pack god of a man. The obstacles people face with their first love, the high hopes of their father, the comparison with their siblings and the struggles of a poor job … all that many people can relate to. And that’s where the story takes place. From a point in life where the protagonist feels that his whole life is thought and planned, to the point where he is lost … not only is he lost, he has lost the desire to find a new direction again. Then love enters unannounced and gives a new purpose, a new light to life. |
| You have the ability to create sour and passionate emotions that stay in the reader’s heart for a long time. What is the secret of this style of writing? How do you deal with emotions the way you do? |
| The answer to this is very simple, but it is very difficult to put into words. I write what I feel.
It doesn’t have to be something I’ve ever experienced or really experienced in my life, but when things happen, when emotions come out of the pen to the paper, the writer within me is living that story. Portraying emotions and passion in words is always difficult because people experience emotions differently. Even to the same situation or event. So writing a name to express an emotion is never worth it. What works is to show how a person feels – in their behavior, in their way of thinking, in their indecision, in their conversation – there are feelings. |
| How long did it take you to write this book? |
| You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, but I wrote this novel, the first draft, in 8 days. Granted, the first draft had only 25 episodes, relatively little character development, and no Preety POV chapters, but the story was written. With the next phases of the edition, the story has now evolved into everything for several years. |
| How important do you think emotional and sexual fulfillment is in a romantic relationship? |
| I don’t know how to answer that question: a romantic relationship, in my opinion, can’t exist without affective and sexual fulfillment. What needs to be kept in mind here is what parameters define a particular couple’s emotional and sexual fulfillment. |
| What do you think is more important for young people today: emotional or sexual life? |
| Again, any person who chooses one of these two from this question is incredibly short. Today’s youth is far more vocal, expressive, and even more impulsive than it was in the youth of decades past. But they are still human beings. Man needs the emotional and sexual dimensions of life.
At any given time, the perceived priority may be different, but without both, a person cannot be complete. |
| Who are the contemporary authors of the love genre you respect? |
| I don’t read as much as I would like, but nonetheless, the author who touched me to the deepest level of my love is Stephenie Meyer. |
| A word that ever inspires you? |
| Diversity
In a way that is my mantra. I have never been able to limit myself to a particular function or discipline. |
| What are your efforts to write about your future? |
| I have two stories at work, and I’m torn about what work I need to do to finish first. One is a spin-off of The Fourth Kiss story where we explore the future of Harsh and Kajal. The second is a romantic tragedy, about a doctor who got into an arranged marriage and ended up with a woman, who is indifferent to him despite his efforts to be a good partner in life.
As you know Harsh is about to finish his MBBS and will also become a doctor, so somehow these two unfinished stories will star the doctor. And as a follow-up to one of your previous questions: This story will have a big impact on my profession! I’m still waiting for a new spark – I’m sure you’ll be one of the first to announce this when it’s ready to be published! |
Buy a copy of The Fourth Kiss using the link below.
