Sunday, May 04, 2008

It's always possible

I was in 9th grade, sitting in a very small restaurant on M.G. Road in Pune with my friend Aishu. This restaurant had long benches to sit on, so everyone coming in would sit on the same bench in a line. A guy came towards us and he asked for an autograph on a 100 Rs. note from a lady sitting right next to me. I looked at her. She was short, with short hair wearing a long kurta jacket and pant. I heard Aishu screaming ‘Kiran Bedi SSSSSS’ and then I asked one of the stupidest question of my life “is that Pooja Bedi’s mother?” (afterall Pooja Bedi was hot and happening those days, she had made a record by wearing shortest skirts in the history of Indian cinema!). Now I thank Aishu for still acknowledging me as a friend. Aish was completely shocked with my response and replied “NO she is the first female in India to be in police”. (In my case IGNORANCE is always possible :))

Kiran Bedi – Not just the first female to be in police but also first female to reach the highest position in police in India. If the concept of rebirth is true I would like to be someone like her. She ruled the field which was dominated by men over the years. I admire her so much not because she ruled a man’s world but because she had the courage to do it.
“If people who have committed crimes are tortured more in prisons then it is in fact going to turn them more bitter and after releasing from prisons they can do more crimes. The concept of a prison itself is people who have done crimes should live alone and think about their actions.” – Kiran Bedi


She transformed India’s and for that matter Asia’s largest and most infamous jail called Tihar jail. (Largest in terms of human population)


It’s always possible – Kiran Bedi

In this book she has described in detail the corruption, bad condition of food and medical services provided, problems faced by foreigner prisoners, concerns of the endangered species in the prison – women and adolescent prisoners before she was posted to Tihar jail. She changed Tihar into a place where the prisoners were taught meditation, yoga, reading, writing, various language related courses and skills like candle making etc. Her journey of transforming the most notorious jails into an Ashram was definitely difficult but as she says ‘It’s always possible’!

Read this book to know how a person can really change impossible to I m possible.

“Does our criminal justice systems are at all fashioned to help change offenders and forgive those who were willing to mend?”

2 comments:

Mayur said...

Nice blog. I believe "It's always possible" too :)..

Reema Sahay said...

Hi, I have read both the books. Kiran Bedi is one of those women from India, who makes us believe that "it's always possible", what we need is enough will power and enough determination. I truly admire her.