Agony and Ecstasy

“There are true stories of real people,experiences of those close to me as well as incidents from my own life,” explains Sharma,who has co-authored the book with Capt S Seshadri,writer of the 2007 bestseller Sunita Williams: Astronaut Extraordinaire. She adds that the book is not a compilation of her columns,but a look at the various “agonies and issues” that ail people and the ways to tackle these. “Many of these stories are unpleasant and most people deal with pain in their own ways and develop their own fighting mechanisms,” she says.

Jobs,relationships,weight,marriage,sex,pregnancy,money,child abuse,domestic violence,loneliness,boredom— the agonies dealt with in the book are many. The author treats her ‘Inagonies’ (a term she’s coined) with patience and humour. “Many of the queries are from youngsters,and their numbers are rising. These are genuine cries for help,” says Sharma,adding that an agony aunt must be non-judgemental and open to suggestions from experts,and never trivialise an issue.

There are also chapters on abuse at workplace,cyber relationships and a few “fun” issues.

Sharma has been working on the book for the past two years. “At the end of it all,it was a powerful and humbling experience. It was also cathartic,” she says,“After all,there is an agony aunt in each one of us and we advise so many people on something or the other.”