The most important woman in India according to a magazine, high achiever in this male dominated jungle of a planet, and the person who transformed Tihar Jail: that was the extent about my knowledge about Kiran Bedi, a woman a lot of other women and girls tout as their role model. So, I thought the biography would be a good place to read up about her. After all, she was a cop. And therefore her life was bound to be a lot more interesting than an IT professional. Plus, the book advertised itself by claiming to be the best biography of an Indian. And though I couldn’t recall any other significant biographies from India, I was fairly certain that even considering the lack of competition the book, if not good, wouldn’t be too bad.
To that end, I was right. The book was not bad. And yeah, Kiran Bedi’s life has been quite “happening”, as the hippies might have said. First woman IPS officer, now that’s quite an achievement isn’t it. Something I would have been proud as a parent, a teacher, a friend, a neighbour, or even as her building watchman. Truly, it is so convenient to generalize that this or that is not a girl’s domain. Disproving that requires tremendous dedication, and conviction to battle the cynicism, the doubts, and even ridicule. To say that Kiran Bedi did battle all of that to have a phenomenally respectful career as an IPS officer is to say a lot. Hats off Miss Kiran Bedi!
But then, as a biography this book seriously lacks in quality. Not that I have read many non-business biographies, but I am sure the writing could have been way better. It reads like someone is literally penning down the things as they happened in Kiran Bedi’s life chronologically without giving a thought to the aesthetics of writing. It fails to play with the readers’ emotions, to cause them to flare at the bureaucracy in the Indian System, or cringe at the simply inhuman crimes against the people jailed at Tihar, or simply feel sad for the people who wait for years to even get a sentence and spend time in prison as undertrials. There are some feeble attempts here and there to do that. But they are too far and few in between to praise the quality of writing. Two things could have happened. One, maybe the creative freedom of the author was curtailed, and he was told about the things to write. Or, the writer found that her name would not be mentioned on the cover page and got seriously ticked off by that to put effort into the book. (The book that I have does not have the author name on the cover. The picture of the revised edition I have put up here, does mention the name! Atleast they revised that!) I have a feeling it is the first. Probably Kiran Bedi herself micro-managed the book too much for it to be a piece of literature. And the book at places seems to be a vent to give justification, or to complain against the injustice against her. And the book does seem quite self laudatory for it to be an honest biography.
Final word… yes the book is a worthy read for the sheer personality of Kiran Bedi. Writing pulchritude be damned. The life story of Kiran Bedi keeps you riveted, and the pages keep turning. And you do feel glad that you have such an officer in the system.
To that end, I was right. The book was not bad. And yeah, Kiran Bedi’s life has been quite “happening”, as the hippies might have said. First woman IPS officer, now that’s quite an achievement isn’t it. Something I would have been proud as a parent, a teacher, a friend, a neighbour, or even as her building watchman. Truly, it is so convenient to generalize that this or that is not a girl’s domain. Disproving that requires tremendous dedication, and conviction to battle the cynicism, the doubts, and even ridicule. To say that Kiran Bedi did battle all of that to have a phenomenally respectful career as an IPS officer is to say a lot. Hats off Miss Kiran Bedi!
But then, as a biography this book seriously lacks in quality. Not that I have read many non-business biographies, but I am sure the writing could have been way better. It reads like someone is literally penning down the things as they happened in Kiran Bedi’s life chronologically without giving a thought to the aesthetics of writing. It fails to play with the readers’ emotions, to cause them to flare at the bureaucracy in the Indian System, or cringe at the simply inhuman crimes against the people jailed at Tihar, or simply feel sad for the people who wait for years to even get a sentence and spend time in prison as undertrials. There are some feeble attempts here and there to do that. But they are too far and few in between to praise the quality of writing. Two things could have happened. One, maybe the creative freedom of the author was curtailed, and he was told about the things to write. Or, the writer found that her name would not be mentioned on the cover page and got seriously ticked off by that to put effort into the book. (The book that I have does not have the author name on the cover. The picture of the revised edition I have put up here, does mention the name! Atleast they revised that!) I have a feeling it is the first. Probably Kiran Bedi herself micro-managed the book too much for it to be a piece of literature. And the book at places seems to be a vent to give justification, or to complain against the injustice against her. And the book does seem quite self laudatory for it to be an honest biography.
Final word… yes the book is a worthy read for the sheer personality of Kiran Bedi. Writing pulchritude be damned. The life story of Kiran Bedi keeps you riveted, and the pages keep turning. And you do feel glad that you have such an officer in the system.
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