Love For Cars Takes Toddler Into India Book of Records

Trisha Mehta

Pune, 20th August 2021: At the age of two, most children are busy playing with colourful blocks, but Ridhaan Bhatia stands out as an exception to the norm.

Ridhaan is two years and ten months old. His name has been recorded in the Indian Book of Records (IBR) for identifying the maximum number of cars. The toddler recognized 27 cars in just 30 seconds.

Ridhaan’s father, Varun Bhatia who is a program manager with a research firm, realized his curiosity and love for cars and found ways to encourage him.

“His love for cars was first sparked by forced lockdowns and limited activities resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. I started taking him on short drives within our residential complex around mid-2020. It became a kind of a ritual after the first few weeks as he just would not like to say at home.

After a few months of this daily driving ritual, we got a chance to visit my parents in Jaisalmer in August 2020 where he got interested in his grandfather’s Santro and few other cars in the family and long drives as the COVID-19 situation improved. His inquisitiveness in cars increased even more and he wanted to see different makes and models,” Ridhaan’s father said. The family resides in Baner in Pune.

In July 2021, Ridhaan’s mother Dharna, a homemaker, came across a social media post from IBR about a kid holding a different record. Fueled by the idea, his parents quickly reached out to the IBR team and worked out the requirements that would help Ridhaan achieve the record. Their record was accepted on July 12, 2021, and they received the official record certificate and other mementoes
earlier this month.

Ridhaan’s parents are extremely proud of his achievements even though he is still very small to understand what his innocent inquisitiveness for cars has led to.