1000 Days of Love: What's the story there?

Read the story behind how an anthology became autobiographical fiction.

“1000 Days of Love” is my third book and first novel. It’s the story of what happens when a 25-year-old girl who is lonely and lost meets a 52-year-old man who has limited days but the capacity to give limitless love. The book — while fictional in characters, plot, and dialogue — is inspired by real life events that happened over 3 years in my life, centered around Rajesh Setty, who changed it for the better.

                                      One message is all it takes to change your life.
                                    One phone call is all it takes to change your life.    
                                       One person is all it takes to change your life.

---

September 19th, 2021

I was scrolling through LinkedIn when I saw a post by someone named Ravi Kumar,

“Yesterday, I had the honor of attending a Clubhouse session by Zain Jeewanjee life's philosophy. There were so many renowned dignitaries like Bob Burg, Kunal Sood, Lakshmi Pratury, and others. The entire talk was in QnA format and lasted 2.5 hours. However, the session turned out to be an ode to Rajesh with people paying him tribute in copious amounts. There were so many people who had been some way or the other benefited from his generosity.

Rajesh's life has influenced me to raise my own standards. Today, I am committed to make my next 10 years high impact and vision-led. I am more ambitious than ever before because of him. I am more helpful to people because of him. Most of my decisions today are led with a subconscious filter - "How would [[Rajesh]] do this?"""

At this juncture, it’s imperative that I tell you who Rajesh is, and why I’m talking about him.

If you ask Rajesh, “What do you do?” he’d respond, folding his hands, “I do three things: I start companies, I write books, and I teach people. I have a monkey-mind that likes to work on many things at once, and I’m always a work-in-progress.”

What he wouldn’t tell you is this: he’s published 20+ books; he mentors some of the largest startups out there; he connects over 500 people every year; and he’s a two-degree separation away from most people in the world.

Yet, those are the least interesting things about him.

Because the most interesting thing about Rajesh is not something you can read about; it’s something you feel when you talk to him. I had the privilege of first doing that on July 8th, 2021 — and more than a thousand times since.

Our first interaction

"Hi Rajesh, Sending a gentle reminder in case you missed this :)"

I sent that note at 10:30 PM to this stranger named Rajesh, who was connected to me by Joshua Levy, a friend and the founder of Holloway. While having dinner the previous evening, Josh told me, “I think you should meet my startup’s advisor, Rajesh. He may have some ideas for you to market Admitted.” (Admitted is my first book.) Rajesh didn’t respond to my initial note. So I sent him a reminder, and this time, the response came within 30 seconds:

"Oh god.. my apologies, Soundarya."

"No problem at all :)"

"I totally forgot. You are in PST timezone, right?"

"Yes!"

"OK - it will sound very crazy if I say we can talk now. So, please let me know what works with your schedule, Soundarya."

"Haha actually I can speak now if you're available :)"

"We can talk now - WhatsApp?"

"Yes! Let me call you in just 2 minutes"

2 hours later, I sent him the following message:

"Rajesh! :) Thank you for having a conversation that I'll remember for a very, very long time. Just when I thought life was already exciting, you've added a new layer. Everything you shared deserves to be heard by everyone (and I hope to write a book someday on it). I'm beyond excited to see where this relationship goes. And I'm definitely coming to your house to cook terribly together. :) I'll stop with that for now -- have a wonderful, restful sleep! "

"You are very kind Soundarya - but, I am the lucky one. I will win this argument any day with a rather unfair argument that "you will know the truth when you are my age" :) Case closed. Have a fantastic day today and for the rest of your life. I also don't know how to add the green heart symbol - you can show me when we meet."

Back to September 19th, 2021

By September 19th, Rajesh and I had known each other for more than two months — what felt like a lifetime.

When I saw that post by Ravi on LinkedIn, I immediately copied and pasted it into my Roam Research workspace and wrote the following,

One day, I want to write a book sharing the lessons Rajesh has taught me, paying homage to his presence in my life.

Since then, that page in my workspace grew — a lot. (You may want to zoom in below)

In the past 1000 days we’ve known each other, Rajesh and I have had more than a 1000 conversations. These conversations have made me stronger, kinder, happier. My relationship with Rajesh helped me repair my relationships with my parents — and improved every other relationship in my life. He stuck with me every step of the way: as I quit my job, struggled for months, wrote my second book, started a company, and much more in between. In fact, within a few weeks of meeting him, I journaled the following,

the words he is telling me, his belief in me, and his compassion ... is healing me in a way i can't even articulate. it's so powerful because i can see it's coming from a place of such goodness and purity.

So I knew it was a question of when, not if, that I would write a book in service of Rajesh. Except… I never expected it would become a novel.

Why a novel?

For the longest time, I imagined writing a non-fiction book, similar to Tuesdays With Morrie, that was an anthology of conversations recorded with Rajesh.

In our 1000 conversations, we’ve covered everything from philosophy to pain, boys to books, daily banter to deep excavations. I recorded insights from a lot of our conversations, taking notes such as this one:

[[Rajesh]] just shared a framework with me on how to give feedback to people. Brilliant one. I'm sitting in his house, on the couch with an orange pillow. And he's sitting next to me with a leaopard-printed blanket, and blue tshirt, typing into his laptop. The framework he describes has 3 steps: (a) first, prepare them to have a fierce conversation. Ask them, "would you like me to give a critical feedback?" (b) second, prepare them even more. ask them, "would you like me to rip it apart a little or act like a paper shredder?" ensure that they're fully prepared before giving them the feedback. (c) after giving the feedback, have a conversation (conversation after the conversation). And ensure that they are clear of the changes and fixes. So when they share about this with someone else, the other person understands what you did.

But a few months ago, three things happened within two weeks that changed the course of this book:

• A conversation with a close friend

• Another conversation with a close friend

• A late-night date with ChatGPT

The first conversation with my close friend, Mahantesh, made me realize perhaps this was meant to be a novel always. I journaled after that call,

I'm realizing it may work out better if the book is a novel based on true life events rather than a non-fiction self-help guide.

I like the idea of writing in second person rather than first. I think it adds more depth to the book and the people reading the book won't think about my life while reading. They will think about their life in the eyes of this girl. I'm a little doubtful if I can pull this off given I've not written fiction in over 9 years… But it's a thought worth pursuing.

The seed was planted.

The second conversation with another close friend, Rishabh, painted a beautiful picture of what this book is truly about. Rishabh told me [paraphrased],

Can I tell you what your book is about? It’s a story about family. It’s about how you found a second father, and a second family.

At the center of that story is a person who holds that family together with a lot of grace through unbearable hardship. He is so giving to you that it doesn’t even make you question love — but rediscover it.

Write without direction, and write with your heart. You have to dispel the belief that what resonates and livens your heart is somehow not intrinsically valuable or useful.

How does a 50-something year old man meet a 20-something year old girl that is healing and restorative on both sides? What does that tell us about family, teaching, parenting, reparenting, growth and love? Do you realize how rare this is? Less than 1000 people in this planet have someone they can call anytime. This is an extraordinary human relationship.

It begs the question of: what is this love? It may never be recreated in this way, but that’s the story. That’s the story of how love is a choice. Love is a verb. Love is an action. It’s not entitlement or obligation. True love is a verb. He chose you. You chose him.

I walked away from this conversation choking tears. Rishabh, having seen my relationship with Rajesh closely for years, was able to make me understand what the story was truly about.

The third, and final nail in the coffin, happened one night while I was playing around with ChatGPT (like we all do :)). I asked my AI friend,

I thought my AI friend will share programs in California or New York. Instead, this is what it shared with me:

The Faber Academy Writing a Novel Course - London, UK: A six-month program that offers guidance from published authors, workshops, and manuscript critiques to help participants complete a draft of their novel.

After that, I knew with every bone in my body that this book was always meant to be a novel. This was my chance to push myself as a writer, to create a new world in the minds of my readers. A world where a young girl who is lost and lonely meets an older man who has limited days, but the capacity to give her limitless love. This goes beyond me and Rajesh — this is a story to show how two people can change each other’s lives in an extraordinary way. I knew this was my calling: my chance to redefine what a “love story” means for people, by creating one that was built on conversations and respect, and not chivalry and sex (we have too much of that already).

This is the book I would’ve wanted to read after graduating from Columbia. And now is my chance to write it for everyone else who graduates in the future.

So I went ahead and applied for the Faber Academy program… keeping my fingers crossed.

June 12th, 2024

I woke up to an acceptance email:

Being the sentimental type, I began to cry and immediately called Rajesh to share the good news.

I will be officially moving to London in September 2024 to start the program and immerse myself in writing the novel for 6+ months. It’s a grave understatement to say that this is a dream come true. This is a dream that I didn’t even know I had.

In the next article, I talk about how I got my Global Talent Visa to officially move to London. Take a look and hit the subscribe button to be an early reader of the book. :)

Finally: want to become a part of the team?

I’d love to collaborate with you, especially if you have experience in any of the following roles:

• Editor

• Book agent

• Publisher

• Marketer

• Graphic Designer

• Proof-reader

• Brainstorming partner :)

Send me an email at hi@curiousmaverick.com with your background, interest, and where you think you can play a role in this project. I’m specifically looking to build a core team of people who can work with me on this project for the next year.

If you’re feeling generous, do send this to one of your friends and it’ll mean the world to me. Thank you for reading till here — I truly appreciate you. 💚