I had given his mobile number in this post and readers, visitors and acquaintances would call him and strangers would make friends with him. Wish he was still around to receive the calls.

Thank you once again.

Regards | Neeraj

I am sure people think that he was a non-smoker. But just to share another fact, he always used to smoke in sad moments or when he was hurt by someone. He personally shared this info with me.

Just to share: I communicated with him in 2009 last time. He was just kidding and said: “Shadi kar liya aur bataya bhi nahi.”

I just came to know about his unfortunate and sad demise. May God bless his dear and near ones and may his soul rests in peace.

Thank You Neeraj!
Varun Johar

It is so sad to hear about the sad demise of Prof.Bhatia, such a wonderful person and a human being. Feel so sad that we have to live in a world where there is no more Prof.Bhatia. A few drops of tears, from the bottom of the heart with a wish that let his soul rest in peace……….. am sure he must be watching all of us from a distance and of course with that typical smile…….. without that he is incomplete……….. a person who defied everything and everybody, with a brave heart…….. a person, for whom…….. no rules applied………. even at the age, when generally people used to confine to the rooms in their houses……. SALUTING YOU, PROF. BHATIA, WITH A HEAVY HEART…….. BY ALL MEANS……….

Satheesh KG

It is with regret that I convey to you all that I received a call this morning from his daughter, informing me of Prof Bhatia’s demise on Monday morning.

He was combating cancer which was in advanced stages.

Prof.Bhatia and I became acquainted a few years ago and soon became deep friends despite the age difference due to shared interests. We would meet every Saturday or alternate one, when he, on his way to meet his other friends at the Press Club, would stop by my place and pump some life into me with his wit, knowledge, poetry, nostalgia, experiences and, importantly, football discussions.

Football was as much a passion with him as Spanish and poetry. To me, he used to narrate from his memories, incidents from his playing days and days in Delhi’s soccer scene.

He would make me open this page often and ask me to write something here because he would like to see it and would like his friends to read what I had written about Prof. Bhatia. And then we would carry on with our conversation because time was always precious and outside the room, other waiting people would be becoming restless. But I always used to promise myself that I’d get back home and write a few words about my interactions with Prof.Bhatia and our friendship.

Alas! Little did I realize that my procrastination would result in my post here being of such nature.

Prof Bhatia was almost 40 years older than I, and the spirit of the man, his optimism, his zest for life always left me awestruck.

One thing I would like to add here, that despite a big age difference between me and Prof. Bhatia, everytime we get so friendly and the atomosphere around us is always so nice which all the more make as very good friends.

Neeraj, you are absolutely correct in adding those lines about his taking 3-4 pegs. Even today, I had a nice evening with him and we didn’t forget to cheers with those 3-4 pegs.

Few of my favorite lines from his ghazal are:-

“Usne kucch aur kay kaha hoga,
Raje hasti bata raha hoga.
Tum jo chaho to jaa milo usko,
woh kisi mod par ruka hoga.”

I wish Prof. Bhatia a very long life. May he continue to shower his blessings to the journalist fraternity for a long time.