January 16, 2021

Mahalo Reader,

Greetings from Earth. I hope you understand what I am writing. But, in case, you communicate only in emojis, here is my attempt at saying hello, friend – 

I am writing this little note to tell you a bit about me, your letter writer. I’m Aarti V Raman and I am a proud teller of stories. I live in a country called India in one of the busiest cities in the whole world, Mumbai. And I am happy. I think it’s important to share how you are as much as who you are. 

My sincerest wish would be to hear from you but, in case, I am several millennia too early, I’ll just share a brief note on the highlights of my time on Earth – We fought two world wars, we still haven’t made alien contact, in 2020 we lived through a pandemic which decimated our civilization’s way of living but made sure at least most of us survived to tell the story.

This document is my attempt to chronicle in words and pictures everything that matters to me as I live through the thirty-third year of my life. In these collages you’ll find a little piece of the parts of me that make up the whole. There is a reference to food, music, books, shows, movies, family, friends, love and life itself.  

Some of my favorite foods are the French fries from MacDonald’s and streetside pani puri from Shri Ram! I can’t adequately express what I love about music and how much it has saved me (I’m listening to Taylor Swift’s Folklore as I write this expansion of the letter), but I did mention the one song that changed the person I was becoming.

Here With Me – Dido Armstrong. 

I learned to speak English by watching TV shows such as F.R.I.E.N.D.S, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Roswell and learned to escape into worlds with the help of books. I haven’t added a picture of the woman who inspired me to become Writer Gal – Nora Roberts – but I can share this story here. 

I was 15 when I read The Calhoun Women by Nora Roberts and I fell in love. Period. I fell in love with telling stories, with making my living by telling stories, with romance and heartbreak and danger and attraction and everything that make up being me. And I am proud to say that I own every single major title by Ms. Roberts till 2013 – all 150 of them – lovingly collected since I was 15. 

And, in this time capsule, I’m sharing five books written by me that changed my heart, my soul and my life. They’re all part of The Millionaire Foe Quartet Complete Collection, a series of steamy, interconnected but standalone romances set around the world. I’m sharing these five books because, I think, they showcase the best of what our world –my planet Earth – has to offer. From soaring cityscapes, to windswept beaches in small towns and the wonderful, flawed people that inhabit it. 

This is my small attempt at sharing how I envision my three favorite words in the English language – Happy ever after. 

I hope you have a wonderful time going through them and they provide you a glimpse into the piggybank of my memories and life lived here on earth! 

Xx

Aarti V Raman aka Writer Gal