Himanshu Goel breaks taboos around Depression with IRL- In Real Life

Himanshu, who is an expert at building brands and influencers, is a marketer at Topline Consulting Group. Being an influencer himself with over 65K followers on Instagram, he brings his achievements to work as the Influencer Marketing Specialist at TopSocial India. As an author, he has published a fiction novel Tulsi, a few poetry collections, including the rational boy in love series, and a short story titled, 'The Thirteen-Year-Old Monk', which talks about the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi, the acceptance of imperfections.

Drawing a parallel between fear and faith, 25 years old, Himanshu believes that his writings have been inspired by the essence of stability. He trusts that finding a faithful anchor is core for all of his books.

Building his latest creation, IRL-In Real Life, with the same semblance of balance, Himanshu says, "We received over a thousand poems, of which 99 of the best ones were chosen. At first, we thought of all the problems as separate issues, but when we received submissions, we realised they cannot be treated as exclusives. They are irretrievably linked. The understanding of the interconnected roots of such distinct issues makes one acknowledge, and eventually accept, the complexities of human experiences. Many of such perceptions are shared in the book".

IRL, an ironical muse between the real and virtual world, is a diverse mix of writers from a 13-year-old girl from Kashmir to experienced writers, from Poland, the US and the UK, who have written several books.

"It is important to carry a variety of opinions. It is important to acknowledge and understand all corners of the problem. There is great diversity in their fields and backgrounds as well. The diverse set of contributors include lawyers, engineers, doctors, literature students, and advocates," says Goel, an engineer who pursued an MBA in marketing and communications from MICA, Ahmedabad.

Every perspective is a personal story and each writer, with their poem, is opening up to the reader with all honesty.

Highlighting how the book is crucial and impacts on important issues such as mental health, one of the poets, Simran Tuteja, who is a student at Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi says, "I think that mental health and cyberbullying are very sensitive topics but at the same time addressing them is extremely important. I have dealt with cyberbullying and I know how bad it can get. There are a million other people out there like me but they are scared to open up because they think they are alone. I'm really grateful that Mr Goel gave me this opportunity and is taking a step towards awareness through this book".

The poetry collection is published by Kalamos Literary Services.