Through the review of her book ITS ALWAYS POSSIBLE Sterling Publishers

These four hundred-odd pages funded by the Nehru Fellowship are very satisfying to the reader who is interested in how individuals change institutions. Kiran Bedi is a reformer in every sense of the word, never mind that she is our first woman supercop. She is a hero, a social role model; an excellent example of how to be a leader without turning into a pioneer. She is ready, able and willing to get-set-go once the baton is handed to her in the relay race of governing society.

Kiran seems comfortable in a hierarchical setup \\\\\\\\ to her work .. .. . all one needs is efficiency. In this sense she has managed to become a leader of the collective that “serves” society by policing it.

“I felt that most of these individuals (except the truly innocent ones) had wound up in prison precisely because they could not manage their time properly.”

Kiran seems to subscribe to the old world view that if you play according to the rules, things work out;;; if you follow the law, it can never betray you. This is clearly a simplistic view of life;; if the law is a hundred years old, laid down by oppressors and causes only suffering, one needs Kiran to help make it better. Lets face it, Kirans transfer to Tihar was a vindictive act on the part of her senior .. .. .. she had the power to turn the point of the sword away from herself and use it against others. Throughout the book, Kiran has not addressed the issue of why god chose her, or why it should be necessary for god to play any part at all in manmade institutions.

In school one read a lot about conquerors who traveled on foot through the Himalayas and settled in India as rulers ////// they had to wage bloody battles and a great deal of suffering was involved on all sides before the regime changed.

“I was a soldier, duty-bound to take charge of this hellhole” says Kiran.. .. five foot three, fifty five kilograms, in a situation which no other woman has faced before, “Wearing a uniform was not mandatory. I therefore deliberately wore a full-sleeved pathan suit, topped by a waist-length Nehru-jacket. This gave me full cover, with a sense of grace, I wore flat walking shoes, not to reveal even my toes. This was done to ensure a non-distracting presence, in an overwhelming male township.”

You are a woman of the world, Kiran {{{{{ you should know quite a lot about how distracting women can be visually. Dressing up as a man in badly-cut clothes does not make you a man; it merely shows what kind of man you aim to please. You are a good-looking healthy Punjabi sports woman.. .. .. nothing can disguise that. The message you gave through your physical image, was that you were not interested in what is seen as “feminine” facets of life. You tried to be as unattractive as you could, so that no one could point a finger at you and say that you Charmed! your way through Tihar. You were the boss anyway, so no one would dare to harm you physically, especially if you were with a witness. But how did you handle the predators inside the prison, with just a superintendent or deputy walking along beside you?? Were there no scuffles, no skirmishes, no threats to your life, even by a “band of gangsters (who had) virtually converted Tihar into their fiefdom “” one leader had even bred thirty white pigeons?”

Did you carry a firearm to protect yourself on your rounds?? Are there some secret police-tricks that you used to undermine the threat to yourself as Tihar started turning into an ashram??

“Even below the age of four, children were doing homosexual acts and making sexual-advances .. .. . they were violent even with insects and frogs // they would crush them, tear them, burn them and squeeze them alive.” Kiran avoids mentioning the sexual crimes that were part of everyday life in Tihar. “Adolescents were inside for murder, kidnapping, stabbing, drug-peddling, burglary, theft, rape ++++ emotions like remorse or repentance were non-existent.”

The public has long been aware that high-profile, far-reaching criminals operated from Tihar. It is just not possible that there was no retaliation from them, as they saw Kiran derailing their system. For twenty one years Kiran has been a cop :: to the civilian, a cop has innumerable strategies up their sleeve to “fix” and “Catch” anyone they want to {{{{{ they ensure their own witnesses, both readymade and otherwise, they learn how to beat and torture so that a minimum of body marks show up later .. .. ..  cops stop you and demand money just because they feel like it, while around them cars are crashing red lights, people driving without helmets, man molesting women openly in public. Cops not only know the law, they know how to break the law, never mind the criminal. For the civilian, a cop is someone to avoid; if that cannot be done, one should pay up;; and if that cannot be done, one enters the police-station with sinking hope and a sense of dread. Cops carry double-edged weapons.. .. .. .” while on rounds I was observing interacting questioning learning solving evolving ensuring implementation of earlier decisions.”

Kiran knew that Tihar could “well be turned into a graveyard, making me part of the ruin.” Emotionally, she was threatened on all fronts; as a cop, as a woman, as an officer, perhaps even as the mother of a girl child. To turn hardened criminals into a bunch of pussycats requires more then being efficient or Nice to them>>>>>>

Even though Tihar  …” was a massive exercise in housekeeping and camouflaging tactics were exposed,,  how did she “fix” the rulers of Tihar? It is too much to expect the reader to believe that she did not use violence when necessary.

Kiran Bedi is a good cop. Cops do their job, they capture robbers and put them in jail. The “system” does the rest. Apart from saying “senior” in a nasty way, Kiran has kept her family of cops away from controversy :: she has not told on anyone, and has given credit to all those who did their jobs well. One must keep in mind that being creative has not got an under trial out of jail;; it has got them producing handicrafts, earning money, and paying an inside lawyer to get them out of jail.

The cop has remained separate from the robber.. .. ..

Mohmaya 1999