No Straight Thing Was Ever Made

Urvashi Bahuguna is the author of the poetry collection Terrarium and writes regularly on books, culture, and mental health.

As a person with mood disorders that sprung up in her late teens, Urvashi Bahuguna had to navigate being the first person in her Indian family to admit to and seek help for a mental illness. The changes and challenges which came with this admission and the actions that followed not only impacted who she became as a person but also everything around her-from her interpersonal relationships, both familial and romantic, to the way she walked among her friends and peers and the manner in which she connected with art, literature, popular culture, they all became new and unknown. Through these deeply honest essays that move between personal narratives, anecdotes from conversations and research-driven storytelling, Bahuguna tries to traverse the opportunities and roadblocks that come her way with the tools she has available to her. From a writer of astonishing talents, No Straight Thing Was Ever Made bravely discusses the many facets of living with mental illness, like family, physical fatigue, professional impact and romantic relationships, among others.