This IITB alumnus and CEO at AiRTH has been working on advanced air purification since two years and has had two patents under his name.
At present, he is focussed on removing microbial contaminants from the air to safeguard people against airborne disease transmission.
Ravi Kaushik tells The Sunday Standard about his love for non-fiction reads.
Have your reading preferences evolved over the years?
It is essentially due to the technologies that evolved over the years and the kind of lifestyle I have adapted to. Earlier, I read paperbacks. Now, I prefer reading on my tablet.
It is quite convenient to read on it as I travel often.
What kind of writing do you appreciate and what kind of writing puts you off?
I am into sci-tech and environment-related books. It may sound uninteresting to some but that is where my eyes get stuck when strolling past the bookshelves in a bookstore. I usually do not prefer fiction. I like to live in the reality, books that deal with real problems and put forward real solutions.
What attracts you to the written word?
Written words are anything and everything that you can imagine. While you read the words of the author, you are free to picturise them as you wish.
You can either walk hand-in-hand with the author or paint your own world of stories with the same words. Moreover, I feel written words improve thinking skills and concentration.
What is it about the written word that visual and audio mediums cannot fulfil?
Simply put, written words can be expanded to infinite dimensions and that is what appeals to me the most.
Reading comes easily to me, and I feel aligned with its pace. Words, for me, have always been the medium for learning and gaining knowledge. As fascinating as it may sound, written words allow me to think, imagine, and personify anything under the sun. It is like an unending blank sheet where I can put down my interpretations and learnings.
On the contrary, visual and audio mediums are not able to keep me hooked for longer. I listen or watch and enjoy them at that very moment, whereas written words remain imprinted on my mind for a long time.
Bookshelf or e-library?
I have a small collection of books at my home that I keep going back to. But as I keep travelling, so I keep an e-library handy. At present, I am reading The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming by David Wallace.