Cogitations of Vishwas Jain

Before you start reading the book review, my favourite lines from the book: " Our best intentions are often thwarted by external forces-forces that we ourselves set in motion long ago. Decisions especially bad ones, create their own kind of momentum, and momentum can be a bitch to stop. Momentum says: Hold on, not so fast, I'm still running things here. As a friend likes to say, quoting an old Greek poem: The minds of ever-lasting gods are not changed suddenly ." " I think, that tennis uses the language of life. Points becomes games becomes sets becomes tournaments, and it's all so tightly connected that any point can become the turning point. It reminds of me the way seconds becomes minutes becomes hours, and any hour can be our finest. Or darkest. It's your choice. " I still remember the my first match of tennis that I watched on Television. The only thing that I remember from that match was the magic chant 'An-dre An-dre'. Andre Agass...

Our cab got cancelled. This left us dependent on the vagaries of local taxi dealers. It became a trade off between peace and money as they were charging higher rates but in the end peace prevailed which rarely does these days. However, for us it was not a zero-sum game as the final objective was peace at whatever cost. So, we decided to hire the taxi. But the peace plan got dismantled when taxi driver warned us that there is huge traffic jam on the road to Dhanaulti. Also, it is impossible to reach Dhanaulti and return on the same day. After seeing the brooding expression on our face he told us that we can at best go to Mussoorie and return the same day. He also added that he can't guarantee that we will be able to return on time and catch the overnight train to Delhi as the road is severely jammed. He had several stories of getting stuck in the traffic jam for 6 hours while returning from Mussoorie in the past. As some of my friends had to join the qualitative work force that d...

I am on  my way from my temporary shelter in Delhi to the nearby park to find 'peace' in the smog covered environment. It is  a fresh afternoon of cold December. The 'cold' is nowhere compared to what we witnessed 5-6 years ago, thanks to the climate change and rise in temperature. This is the same me who shouted 'looser-looser' for Sri-lankan cricket team in Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium when SriLankan players showed up on ground after wearing pollution masks.To be honest, I never wanted to project myself as 'anti-national' in the heated environment of the iconic stadium which witnessed nationalist activities like Anil Kumble taking 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan. People even went to the extent of calling spectators wearing pollution masks as 'anti-national' while they were just trying to save themselves from reduction in their lung capacity. Anyways, on my route to the park what I am testimony to is, me leaving behind caravan of cars, ...

Next day I went early by half an hour and reached there by 8:30 so that I can finish it off early in the morning itself. Literally, there is something in the air there which attracts such a huge crowd this early. This time I had to just go directly to room number 2090 for the checkup but to find that room in the huge AIIMS campus is a strenuous task in itself. Again Blue Army brigade was there to help and found the room with little difficulty. Security Guard outside the room gave me the token number 44 and asked me to wait for my turn. The display showed number 15, so I thought it will going to take another 1 hour. I decided to take out the newspaper and after turning some pages my eyes clung to the news which read ‘Most-prescribed drugs at AIIMS not available in hospital store’. I was reminded of the huge crowd that saw outside the generic drugs store yesterday. Anyways, my turn came in 25 minutes. I went inside the room and what I witness I am sure we all must have witnessed in...

It’s been long time, more than 2 years I suppose since I last wrote a blog. It was a long wait for me too. From being overloaded with my own life to finding something substantial to write, I was a bit confused whether I should bring down the blog or wait for some meaningful cogitation or experience which I can share. Now I believe it was worth the wait. I always find it better to write my own experience with life and then alas! I got the opportunity to visit India’s finest medical institute lying in the heart of the capital Delhi, AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences). Don’t worry, nothing serious! Because of the conception I had before visiting there because of some honest reviewers of India I was already jumbled whether my decision to visit AIIMS was right or not. Reviews went like this-too much crowdy, mismanagement at its best, people littering here and there and that too in the era of Swachh Bharat(Clean India) and much more. That created second thoughts in my min...