There is no vaccine for depression: Author Sagar Agrawal

An adventurer at heart, Sagar Agrawal is involved in manufacturing e-vehicle chargers and solar inverters. And now taking off on a parallel career path, the 29-year-old resident of Munirka Enclave debuts as an author with Life Sentence.

“I got the idea to write a book eight years ago at a Vipassana retreat that I attended with my mother,” says Agarwal. But his tight work schedule delayed this epiphany by eight years. “Writing is the most therapeutic activity for me. It is like playing a game of football, my favourite sport — exciting to begin with and exhausting by the end, but enjoyable all through,” he adds. Excerpts:

Tell us about the book in brief.
It is a work of fiction, written in first person about a man who has be en t r i cked and trapped, and the efforts he makes to break free. I have tried to address some very profound issues like what happens when you realise that your world, as you know it, is actually a falsehood? When that one person you considered as your true friend, turns out is not? What happens when your wellwisher becomes your tormentor or when an enemy becomes an ally? The lines are all blurred. Overall, the book talks about the dual nature of human beings — much more pronounced in current times when discontentment is at an all-time high and depression has gained epidemic proportions. There is no vaccine for depression, it has to be fought by the self, and hopefully this book will show a way of doing that.

Why did you name your book, Life Sentence?
The gist of my book is that everyone is locked up in a situation that they are trying to break free from or change [to survive]. The mind is the jail, and we struggle to break free from our fears and phobias, insecurities, rejections, failure, and complexes.

Is the book somehow connected to reality?
The questions that arise in the book are connected with our lives in some way or the other. I chose to write it in first person so that people could relate with their own issues better. 

How challenging is it to break free?
That’s subjective. What is difficult for me can be easy for you, or vice-versa. In this society, we are all connected and dependent upon each other, and we should try to make everyone’s life better, and help ease
each other’s burdens. But I believe ‘it is all in our head’. We are our own true friend and also our own worst enemy. So breaking free begins in the mind.