Kunal Bharadwaj speaks about his debut novel “Love was never mine”

Kunal Bharadwaj could be your average consulting professional. But he’s different. Just last month, he released his first novel, interestingly titled “Love was never mine.” It’s not every day that we get to hear of someone with a steady day job in the strategic research domain writing a novel about falling in love. So, we at YourStory got Kunal to speak about his book and how he managed to write it over a period of three years.What is “Love was never Mine” all about?

It is said that if you want something whole heartedly, the entire universe conspires to bring it to you.

This story is about Rahul and Shreya, or for that matter, each one of us who has ever fallen in love. It attempts to capture the roller coaster ride of emotions (love, friendship, pain, betrayal, loneliness, helplessness etc.) buried within each of us.

This is the story of a simple boy who has an uncluttered outlook towards life falling in love with a confident and materialistic girl who doesn’t believe in love.

Tell us about your background.

I am a strategic research and consulting professional currently working with Genpact Analytics as Assistant Manager. In the past 4 years, he has been associated with firms such as Evalueserve and MarketsandMarkets in various roles within research and sales functions.

I hail from a small town in Bihar called Siwan, and aim to be an entrepreneur in future. I was one of the finalists in The Economic Times’ Power of Ideas 2010 set.

What led you write the book?

The inspiration behind this book is certainly my urge to communicate something to the masses. A lot of people would have wanted to convey their outlook about love in modern times. But a number of them don’t end up doing so, due to the absence of a suitable platform. I just want to be the medium through which their story flows.

At times with no courage to express our love directly, we do make small gestures in a hope that it might reflect our feelings to the other person. But sadly, not every time such small gestures are noticeable. In fact, at times it becomes painful to see the gestures being ignored or not valued. I have tried to put down all such incidents and feelings through a simple story.

How long did it take you to write this book? How did you juggle between work and writing?I’ve realised that writing a novel is something like steering a boat on a stormy night, with no end in sight. It took me about 3 years to complete this book.

To be honest, there was no juggle really. I mean, I did have to devote a few extra hours once I got back home after work. At times, I had to chase down my friends to get their feedback. Sometimes, I managed to write 30 pages in a day, while sometimes it took about 30 days to complete just one page. There’s no pattern, really.

How’s the book doing? Do you plan to continue writing?

The book’s available at all leading book stores across the country and a few online bookstores such as Flipkart, Amazon etc. And it’s doing quite well. I do intend to continue writing. In fact, I am almost through with my next plot and I intend to finish writing that soon.

We at YourStory wish Kunal all the very best for all his endeavours. Do let us know what you thought of this story. You can write to us at[email protected].