For many people, Ravinder Singh’s stories arrived at a time when emotions were difficult to explain. Years later, that connection has only grown stronger through Instagram reels, comment sections, late-night DMs and packed rooms where strangers gather to talk their hearts out. When Ravinder came to Hyderabad recently for Ravinder Singh Live: Half of Forever, the atmosphere felt far from a regular book event, with people opening up about love, loneliness, complicated relationships and emotional exhaustion in ways they usually never do publicly.
The moment Hyderabad comes up in conversation, his face lights up with familiarity rather than formality. Long before he became one of India’s most loved romance authors and a relatable voice online through his ‘whiteboard musings’, Hyderabad was simply home for a phase of his life. “It’s always great to be here. This is the city where I last worked at Microsoft in 2013 and where I completed my MBA at the Indian School of Business (ISB). It always feels great to come to Hyderabad. But this time, the heat wave is pretty intense,” he says warmly.
His memories of the city and food are refreshingly ordinary in the best possible way. “Living in a society in Nallagandla has been an amazing experience. I have never lived in such a beautiful society at such a cheap price point. I come from Delhi NCR, where everything is four times more expensive. During my ISB days in Gachibowli, the late-night idli vendors, with people gathered on roadsides till 1 or 2 o’clock, became one unforgettable memory,” he recalls, smiling.
Explaining what he hopes people take away from the evening, he says, “There’s a lot of heavy-duty conversation we are going to do, and I want to take away the heaviness people are holding in their hearts. A lot of uncomfortable things will be discussed, and as a result, people will feel lighter.”
The idea for such gatherings, Ravinder explains, came naturally from the kind of emotional responses he constantly receives online. “My Instagram handle is where I talk about relationships and people pour their heart out in the comments. A lot more happens in DMs. I wanted to do this face-to-face and not just on a digital platform. People end up in tears, saying this is much needed, because talking it out and realising they are not alone makes them feel less lonely,” he shares.
That same emotional complexity also forms the heart of Half of Forever. Rather than looking at forever as something measured only by time, Ravinder says, “The title Half of Forever comes from the idea that forever is usually measured in time and seen as everlasting. But what if forever could also be measured by the impact of love? Even if that love existed only for a limited time, its intensity and emotional effect could still feel eternal. It is about experiencing a love so deep that it feels worthy of worship and sacrifice. That immense impact stayed forever in feeling, even though the relationship itself did not last forever, and that is why it is called Half of Forever.”
The novel explores a difficult emotional space where love exists without simple definitions of right and wrong. “The journey of writing this book was deeply emotional, and I still choose not to reveal whether it is a true story or not. It explores the complicated idea of falling in love with someone who is not single. At first, readers may feel it is wrong, but with every page, that perception changes because they begin to see love as something pure,” Ravinder notes.
Today, whether through books, social media, or rooms filled with strangers speaking through tears, Ravinder Singh continues to do exactly that, making people feel heard in a world where most are still learning how to talk about what they truly feel.
