Vesna Jacob, 37, Physical Trainer
Pilates arrived in Delhi sometime in the late 1990s, but it really arrived in the capital with 37-year-old Bosnian fitness trainer Vesna Pericevic Jacob. The waiting list for the membership of Vesna Fitness Center, Defence Colony, is longer than a guilty explanation. Her USP is that she is the only trainer in town who teaches theory. The fitness expert perfected her signature style after overcoming a knee injury playing professional basketball in Germany.
Vesna calls herself a holistic trainer, who addresses satisfaction of appearance, emotional upliftment and spiritual stability of her clients. “If you live in a city like Delhi, stress takes a toll. Fitness is one department Delhiites aren’t too bothered about,” she says.
The ever-ready-to-smile blonde links almost everything to fitness—politics, environment, economics or education. “If you’re not in control of yourself how can you run schools, colleges, academic institutions or even the nation, for that matter?”asks Vesna. Leisure for her is quelling (paper art), reading, going to museums and taking her daughter to the zoo.
Love bought her to Delhi ten years ago after she married Anurag Jacob whom she met on a website. Vesna was then working as a fitness trainer for US soldiers based in Bosnia. One of the GIs uploaded her picture. “It was a rather unattractive photograph,” Vesna chuckles. The couple bond by doing things together—exploring Delhi, taking short breaks between work to check out new restaurants, watching movies and taking long walks. “I don’t see too many women venturing out after 9 pm,” says Vesna. Her recent book Fit to Fight is a manual on self defence for women, with helpline numbers, safety mobile applications, a precis of Indian laws pertaining to violence against women. “If I am going to live here for the rest of my life, I want to feel safe.”
When something bothers her, she heads to a church or other places of worship, to find solace. “A peaceful place can do a lot to soothe one’s soul,” she says. “Delhi has so many options, hence it is easy to recover my balance when it gets disturbed.” Vesna loves jogging in the verdant Lodhi Gardens. For Delhi’s princess of Pilates, the body is the temple that houses a tireless mind.
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