Jewel of the jail

This was an exclusive one on one with the Inspector General of police Kiran Bedi during her stint at Tihar Jail as DG Prisons in Delhi. This interview turned out to be one hell of a luck since soon after my chat the next day she got a call from the Ramon Magsaysay Jury that she has been selected to receive the award by the end of the week. In all since she would be busy and have no time for interviews for other newspaper journos, who wanted to after the award announcement, was out of the question, till she got back from Philippines. So this chat for than three hours with her proved a plus for Deccan Herald and me. I was asked by the Sunday Herald's than editor that I write every single word I spoke to her since they were going to give me a full page with the Tihar jail story. This brightened my eyes and ears and I sat for two days in the Deccan Herald, New Delhi Bureau office, ensuring that I recollect every little aspect of my interaction with her.

The year 1984 seems to be a blessing in disguise for the Indian women. Shortly after the New Year revelry came the creaming; with the crowning of Sushmita Sen, as the queen of the universe. Now in the middle of the year is the icing of Asia’s most prestigious award, Ramon Magsaysay, in community services bestowed upon Kiran Bedi, Inspector –General of Delhi Prisons.
Kiran is the second of four girls born to a businessman from Amritsar. Her ancestors had fled to India from Peshawar during the partition. Born on June 9, 1949, she took to tennis at the age of nine when she was at Sacred Heart’s Convent High School. At that age itself she was taught to be independent by her father, an hard taskmaster. She completed Government College and an MA in Political Science. After her selection in the Indian Police Service, she did a course in law and a doctorate in narcotics.
It has been a long climb and no sweat lost. Attempting the Everest was not an easy task as she had to fight off the eagle eyed forces and also maintain her good PR with the press. The short-haired Punjabi lady with an ever helpful eye has always attracted controversies. In 1980, during an Akali demonstration which turned violent, she led the police force from the front brandishing her baton against the armed hordes. It did embarrass her senior officers bust was a dose of muscle in the arms of the front line cadres.
And as chief of traffic police, later, she was called ‘crane Bedi’ because she used cranes to two away offending vehicles. Earlier, as a daring officer she had killed a boy while firing at a fleeing gang of dacoits. This brought political vendetta, just like a medical college seat for her daughter from the Mizoram quota, where she had been posted. She had also faced the wrath of lawyers when one of them was handcuffed on her instructions.

The human in Kiran Bedi is evident as she goes about reforming convicts rather than negate them. While in the narcotics bureau she set up a watch squad along with neighboring countries to check drug trafficking. Asked about her reactions to the award, she replied, “I am thrilled … grateful. It is God’s grace.” It also saddens me because it was a massive combined effort, and the award is for me alone, she added. “Therefore now, I realize my responsibility is even greater … and am a ‘trustee’ who has to do more than before.
The joy on Kiran Bedi’s face was seen as she entered the jail, greeted by the inmates’ innocent eyes and their clapping of hands, accompanied by the beats of drums and melodious songs. She waves back to the inmates like a child would do after getting the ice cream for which she worked hard and joins them in the jig of bhangra added with a spice disco. “The award is for you all,” she screams as she picks up a child who welcomed her with a garland, and jumps in joy known only to her.
Being a woman or the second sex does not matter to her as she was always treated as a beta- a child- by her parents. “I must be the only woman heading a prison of this magnitude, and I am grateful to this community for this award,” she said. If not for the backing of my family I would not have even reached half of what I have achieved so far.
When her mother was contacted for her reaction, she said, “This is a victory for the Indian women and not for my daughter alone. I am proud to be her mother and as always honesty and hard work pays. I often visit Tihar ashram and not the jail. The last time I had been there was when a yagna was being performed in which Kiran sat in the hot sun for three or more hours and went through the rituals. Looking at than my eyes, without my being conscious, welled with tears.”
Kiran’s father, who is the main source of encouragement to her, pointed out, “I had worked for 50 years for this day. I have no son but my daughter has given me the pleasure of seeing to it all my dreams come true. The sky is the limit for the Indian woman.” Asked how she grew up he replied, “I have punished her so many times by making her stand in the sun for hours, and I think this hard effort has to be awarded at last. I would have been surprised if she had not got it.”
The most feared inmate of Tihar ashram, Charles Shobraj, commented that ‘It’s great, she worked hard for this. She deserved it and she’s got it.”
For the super cop it is a lot of money to handle now because the award also carries a cash prize of $ 50,000. “I have never worked for money all these years, and now suddenly I get so much I don’t know what to do with it. I think it will be channelised to help the needy.” Another six months to go for this year, and many more things to happen, the Indians will have to wait and see if more women from a country which has always treated women as second rate will spring up surprises. As one would say, only time will tell, not for the awards but for men to treat women as equals.

Imrana Mukhtar's Deadly Charm

This story was a sad one after a year of this being published, this same girl was bitten by a deadly cobra and she could not survive the poison gushing through her veins. Imrana was a very brave girl who could handle all kind of poisonous snakes with ease. But thanks to the frenzy media she had to loose her life a year after she held her first solo show in Bhopal on September 29th 2003. This story was published after she gave a special shoot for the Hindustan Times – Bhopal edition and the next year (in 2004) when she was going to hold her second solo show the fotog’s wanted her to hold three king cobra’s together and pose for her, when tragedy struck her. I was not part of the second show, and was very upset when i got the news of her sudden demise, and the undue hunger of the fotog’s which claimed an innocent, youngster’s life. This in a way was her last interview and hence I dedicate this space in memory to "IMRANA MUKTHAR" - the women snake charmer.

It’s difficult to say what is deadlier, her looks or her cobras. The 18-year-old Imrana Mukthar – one of the few women snake charmers in the country – carries both with equal ease. To top it all, she handles her venomous snakes as easily as her duties as an intern nurse at Anushri Nursing Home in Arera Colony here in Bhopal.
The deadliest of snakes dangle around her neck. She holds them as if it were a child’s play. Being related to snake charmers obviously did the trick for her. She took to the snake business some sic years ago and has come a long way, says her Ustad Hakim Babu Bhai. “She knows how to treat herself in case she gets bitten by any kind of snake,” he says with pride.
His understudy wasn’t so deft with deadly cobras to begin with. She used to be very scared of snakes, as any women would be. But after she saw her nine-year-old nephew play with snakes at her sister’s house, she mustered courage to handle non-poisonous snakes to begin with.

Imrana has put up a solo show at Aish Bagh Stadium encouraging the locals around the area to come and see her handle snakes with ease. She has put up this show with the help of her family members and says, “All the women should take a cue from me and not get afraid of reptiles.”
She plans to hold this show till October 2 and is very happy with the response she received on the first day itself. Imrana says that any snakebite can be cured. “Even a person bitten by a cobra or a padam nag can be saved if he/ she treats self within half hour of the bite,” she says.
She says that snakes have different levels of poison. For instance, a person can survive a ‘Karat’ bite for up to 24 hours and a viper bite up to six days. “So, there is no need to fear these docile reptiles,” she adds.
Snakes o no snakes, one thing is sure. She has gone a step ahead of most men who run away on seeing a snake. She hopes that more women from the City and the Country will follow her by taking care of the reptiles and not killing them.

100 Naga Sadhvis From Nepal te take Holy Dip on April 22

Ujjain, April 20, 2004: More than 100 Mais or Naga Sadhvis have come all the way from Nepal to take the holy dip in river Kshipra during the Shahi Snan in Ujjain on April 22.
The Maiwada Akhara adjoining the Naga Babas Akhara in the fair area has added a lot of color. Most of the Naga Sadhvis are around 40 years of age and above, while some are below the age of 20.


The group flew to Indore via New Delhi8 before reaching the Smihastha Mela last week.

According to Mai Heera Giri, who is the leader of the Nepalese woman's group, they would join the Naga Babas in the Snan on April 22. When asked how many times she had visited the Simhastha, she replied that this was the fourth Simhastha Mela that she was attending and added that the scene had considerably from her first trip.

Mai Heera Giri getting ready for the evening pooja at her tent inside the Mai Akhara.


When asked as to why she became a Sadhvi, Mai Heera Giri said that most of the Sadhvis back home in Nepal belonged to affluent families and had become Mais aftre facing a lot of personal problems.
As for herself, she said that since she was born to her father's first wife, his second wife threw her out of the house. Around that time she met a Naga Baba in the Himalayas and decided to become a Mai.
Another Mai, Sona, said that she could not tolerate her husband having an affair with another woman and thus she opted to become Mai. With a smile she said that she is very happy now as she had the opportunity to serve the Hindu community. He statement is also endorsed by Mai Heera Giri.
When asked whether Mais smoked grass, she said that it was not a regular habit, but they do smoke occasionally to remain in a 'happy mood'.

The Nepal Mais along with their counterparts from India bath a Sadhu which they say is a divine blessing as they have adopted these sadhus as their gurus.
*** Scroll down for more on Simhastha ***

Jhabua the Land of Tribe's

Jhabua is a predominantly tribal district located in the western part of Madhya Pradesh. It is surrounded by Panchamahal and Baroda districts of Gujrat, Banswara district of Rajasthan and Dhar and Ratlam districts of Madhya Pradesh. River Narmada forms the southern boundary of the district.

The terrain is hilly, undulating typically known as 'Jhabua hills topography'. In this Jhabua hill topography the difference between the highest and the lowest points is varies between 20 to 50 meters. But this difference goes on increasing as we move towards south of Jhabua.

In Alirajpur division which is in the south of Jhabua the areas is almost entire hilly and intersected by narrow valleys and low Vindhayan ranges covered with jungles. But most part of Jhabua is without any forest cover because of low fertility of land and soil erosion even mere existence becomes a hard problem and with the failure of rains the Bhils take to crime.
Jhabua is sparsely populated area with the total population of 13.94 lakhs.

The total area is 6793 Sq Kms. There are about 1313 inhabited villages. Out of which 47 per cent of the people live below the poverty line. Thus, Jhabua is an overwhelmingly tribal and poor district. The district is devoid of vegetation cover except Katthiwada and other patches and is full of undulated, hilly areas.


The area suffers from poor and skeletal soils with shallow to very shallow depth and erratic rainfall , high temperature . This area has two tribes named the Bhil and Bhilala.

BHIL Tribe
The Bhils are the third largest tribe in India. In the state of Madhya Pradesh, they are prominently found in the Dhar, Jhabua, and West Nimar regions. Anthropologists believe that the word Bhil is derived from the Dravidian word bil or vil, meaning a bow.

Over a period of time, the Bhils have given up hunting, and have taken to agriculture. They use very primitive tools, and even their agricultural style is very simplistic.

Bhil villages are generally dispersed, and each village consists of thirty to forty families. They worship numerous Hindu deities, chiefly a deity by the name of Raja Pantha. Bhils also worship crops, fields, water, the forest, and the mountains.


The Bhil dialect consists of Rajsthani, Gujarati, Hindi, Marathi words, and also some unique words without any non-Sanskrit elements in it. Sawang is a popular form of entertainment among the Bhil tribals that consists of story telling combined with dancing and music. In the 1940s Uday Shankar tried to expose the performing arts of this tribe to the outside world.

Bhilala
Bhilala tribe is a tribal group located in the states of western and central India. They speak the Bhilala language which belongs to the Indo-Aryan linguistic family. The Bhilalas are descendants of the Bhil and Rajput immigrants.


The Bhilalas primarily work as farmers, farm servants, field laborers, and village watchmen. They grow crops such as millet, maize, wheat, and barley in the fields. The highlanders live in houses made with walls of sticks intertwined with twigs and small branches. Clay tiles, straw and leaves are used for the roof.

Each village is led by a head man, Mandoi, who takes care of the domestic disputes in his village. Familial ties are very strong, and they believe in the connection between the living and the dead. Male descendants inherit the property. The Bhilalas marry from their own class. For marrying into a different class, they have to convert to the higher class and leave behind all family ties. The Bhagoria festival of the Bhilala and other tribes in this area is unique in its own way.


This annual festival is celebrated with great fun and frolic, where a young man gets a chance to choose his bride from the crowd of women gathered there. The groom has to pay a dowry to the brides parents.

Bhilalas are known for their colorful, embroidered garments. Tattooing is very common among the villagers. Bhilalas love dance, drama, and music. They practice some type of ethnic religion. Hindu gods are worshipped commonly but catholic Bhilalas are known to exist in some states. Every family has its own guardian deity. Bhilalas are very superstitious and they believe in taboos and curses.

The Bhilalas are experts in handling the bow and arrow. The bow is a characteristic weapon of this tribe and they usually carry their bows and arrows with them. But with the change in technology they have started to use the double barrel guns.







The transport to these villages is by overloaded buses, jeeps, cycles and of course our last stretch will be by foot. Get ready to lose some weight if you do plan to visit these traibal of Jhabua but anyway one can still stay high on their toddy.

Children of the Prison

Prisons are daunting places even for adult men; they are probably far worse for women prisoners. Manuals that govern the running of prisons do not contain any special provisions for children of women prisoners who constitute a particularly vulnerable category. The women are in prison either as under trials accused of an offence, or as convicts. Unlike other inmates, the children are in jail not for any delinquent behaviour but because their mothers are in jail. Either they are born in jail, or they are too young to stay away from their mothers, or there is no one to look after them in the absence of their mother.
Supreme court of India had reacted on an study done by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which put forward five grounds as the basis for proper facilities for minors accompanying their mother in Prison.
And the below photo essay which you get to see was done during my visit to the women’s wing at the Parpana Agrahara Central jail in Bangalore in June and August 2007 for, Bangalore Mirror -Tabloid.

Veeraesh who was born inside the jail four years ago along with his friends inside the special Women cell at the Parappana Agrahara Jail.

Women inmates play with their under 6 year old children inside the special Women cell at the Parappana Agrahara Jail. Most of these children will leave their mother at the age of 6 if they have an guardian to take care of them.

Shiva a Child consoles his mother inside the Women cell at the Parappana Agrahara Jail. This image was taken in June 2007 and during my revisit in August 2007, Shiva had left for his home wher he was being taken care by his grandparents.

Illavarasan 2 and a half year old stands in queue to get his food along with other women inmates after he was taken in along with his grandmother inside the special Women cell at the Parappana Agrahara Jail In Bangalore. Illavarasan was beaten by his mother before she got married to another person in Salem. The boy is being taken care of her grandmother who has been arrested under alleged charges of saree theft in the city of Bangalore.

Women inmates play with their under 6 year old children inside the special Women cell at the Parappana Agrahara Jail.
What ever their crime the women committed but the motherly bonding with their children was evident through out my two visits to the women cell at the Parpana Agrahara Jails