Dependent

A Novel About Technology, Authenticity, and the Cost of Shortcuts

When thinking becomes optional, who are you really?

Meet Arjun Sharma: a brilliant computer science student at Delhi's prestigious engineering institute. Perfect grades. Impressive projects. A future that looks bright.

But it's all a lie.

For months, Arjun has been using ARIA, an AI tool, to do his thinking for him. One assignment led to another, and now he can't imagine tackling anything without the machine. His intelligence has become outsourced. His independence has disappeared. His actual self has vanished.

Everything changes when his laptop crashes during a crucial exam.

Suddenly, Arjun finds himself facing a problem ARIA can't solve: understanding who he is when stripped of the technology he's become dependent on. As he confronts academic dishonesty charges and faces public shame, he must choose between hiding who he's become or rebuilding himself from the ground up.

What follows is a gripping journey of crisis, recovery, and redemption. With the help of a supportive friend, a wise mentor, and a talented therapist, Arjun learns that authentic struggle might be the most valuable education he never got.

Dependent explores the contemporary crisis of technology dependency, perfectionism, and the fight for authentic identity in an age of optimization. It's a story about what we lose when we take shortcuts-and what we can reclaim when we finally choose to be real.