This, for want of a better word, is an accidental book. It is more like a collection of thoughts on various topics - right from religion and philosophy to downright random and goofy ones. All these, a result of loneliness and the never-ending nights in dingy hotels and spacious circuit houses all over India during the course of a 20 year (and counting) long career in public health. So, the good thing about these essays is that you can basically pick up any random chapter to read and go about this in any which-way and it won't matter. Each of these short essays is written with the primary goal of provoking the reader to think. This is one book, which you WILL NOT attempt to finish at a single go. Here once you read a chapter, you will just want to sit back and ruminate in the glow of thoughts that each of essays will provoke. Much like that lingering fragrance that you can't quite place or that idea you dreamt of but can't quite remember…