The barefoot women

There are some days in life which are unique.Like this day where I had a rare opportunity to visit Tihar jail,Delhi.This was a pediatric camp organized by an NGO. I was dropped at the exact meeting point as decided.As i looked at the jail entrance,there was an omnious feeling.The vibes of the place made a part of me wondering what kind of people live here, snatched away from the society.The sequence of events in their lives that had led them to this captivity.I kept aside these thoughts, and went inside to meet my team for today's camp.There was this cute girl ,a young MBBS doctor ,whose mother ran the trust(i was so in love with this girl,her smiling face and positive personality,that i find this worth mentioning).Seeing her, gave me a sense of relief.

As we started putting our set up,some inmates who were known as sevagars helped us out.Some were in their twenty's ,some were in thirty's.There was this woman who was really calm,good with her work at hand.I found nothing unusual about her except she was barefoot,which indicated she was an inmate.This caught my attention.Someone in the group was insensitive enough to ask her for how long she was here.I found this extremely uncomfortable.She replied without a flinch.......'life term'.

And then i slowly tried to excuse myself from the awkward conversation of the group probing what she has done to deserve the former punishment so i shifted my gaze towards the window, from where the  gush of cool breeze was coming in the humid community hall.As i was enjoying this welcoming breeze,i saw some women in the jail courtyard.They were roaming around ,talking to each other like in any other community but they were also not wearing any footwear.A thought struck me,many of them were better off here away from the perils of their home.They have a roof over their head,they were having food and companionship in form of fellow inmates.But when you take someone's freedom and respect ,is it worth all the comfort.The second thought that struck me was that of monotony....was their today any different from yesterday?Any change in the slow paced jail life.

Considering this was a famous jail in Delhi-one of among the largest in country,it had 510 women inmates in it with 28 kids,who were in care of their mothers.The kids looked positive,some were toddlers ,some were newborns.I started examining the kids,after inaugural formalities by deputy and chief superintendent of Jail.

I saw the kids like any other day in my OPD,listening to their troubled mothers and counselling them.One of them had  half of her face burned,which i imagined had its own story,may be trival ,may be related with how she was convicted,but never asked her (why would we like to talk about our scars to a complete stranger)  and so I continued examining her child and gave her prescription.

Day passed,we saw all the kids.Most of them were in good health.

Then we went for 'The High tea' at superintendent's office.God how i hated  the tea,could only have it thanks to the small snacks.

Someone from superintendent adjacent office was taking our pictures ,whom i thought to be a regular clerk and then i saw her barefoot and realized she was an inmate too.

The later half of the day was filled with discussion of the superintendent's efforts to improve jail ,about the creche constructed by Dr Kiran Bedi and how a famous actress may end up in this jail in the coming week ,the guys with me did mention they would have loved to keep this current visit to next week.

The place was like a reform unit.Those deemed unfit were cutoff from the society ,to repent and to learn.The kids were collateral damage.

I was exhausted due to the climate and formalities,but one thing remained with me for my lifetime ....freedom and respect are big things to give away,the footwear we gladly wear can become a symbol of respect too.

Any amount of luxury and comfort can not replace the former two.