‘I Did What I Wanted to Do & That’s an Accomplishment’: Kiran Bedi on Life, Work & Her 3P’s
“I did what I wanted to do & that’s an accomplishment”
Perhaps nothing sums up Kiran Bedi better than this statement. The first woman to join the Indian Police Service and introduce sweeping prison reforms, Bedi has always taken the road less travelled, whether it was her illustrious career in policing or her current stint in politics. An activist known for her honesty, grit to take challenges head-on and discipline, Bedi tells OWN in an interview that the inspiration for her success birthed from the need to be self-reliant.
“[My] Inspiration was to be self-reliant. I have grown up in an environment where the upbringing at home was to be self-reliant. It was simple living. Not dogmatic, not ritualistic but fair. I was not growing up to be dependent on anybody. That’s why I am not dependent on others for my decision making. I make my own decisions because I owe it to myself,” she says.
She also credits her parents for being positive thinkers who were far ahead of their time in grooming girls. “My mother used to say, ‘you are not going to take in life, you’ll give’. At that time, dowry was an issue when women had to be given away. We were never talked about [being] given away. No way. So, it was a very inspirational upbringing,” Bedi adds.
Talking about her formative years, which Bedi believes helped lay the foundation for her inspiring life, the Puducherry L-G says her only plan was to add value to her day. “Before I owe anything to anybody, I owe a revaluation to myself. I want to feel proud of myself that I made my day worthwhile. That’s my only plan.”
“I make my own decisions because I owe it to myself”
According to the former top cop, joining the police force too was not part of any plan. “When I was growing up, I did not know there were no woman police officers in the service. Even when I went to report to the academy of administration, they were shocked. They told me I was going to be the first woman [in the force]… That’s when I got a call from the government to say, ‘are you sure you want to be because there are no women in the Indian police service’. I was called back from Mussoorie to Delhi. [Then] Home minister KC Pant called me and specially invited me to North Block to meet him. He said, ‘Are you sure because we have no women and you know what it is’. I said ‘of course I understand it means hard work but that’s how my life has been’,” she adds.
Bedi says she told Pant she had not prepared to be the first woman in the Indian Police Service but just wanted to be in a place “where I think I can be of immense value to others and to myself”. “That’s all… I just have a day and I want to have a day which I am proud of.”
But then, was it an easy road for her, given the opposition she would have faced from her male colleagues? Surprisingly, Bedi says she never faced any obstacles from her male colleagues and was instead always cited as an example for others to emulate. “I looked after their welfare, I led them, supported them, trained them, groomed them and mentored them. I worked with them, collaborated with them and learned from them. I used to hear them and look out for a situation where I could recognise and reward them,” she says on developing a healthy relationship with her male counterparts and juniors.
She recalls an anecdote to support her point. “I used to name many schemes after my officers. There is an insurance scheme which I named after my then DIG Jaydev Sarangi when I was IG Prisons. He set up an insurance policy that we had never imagined and when it was time to launch the scheme, I named it ‘Sarangi’ scheme. He objected but I said ‘no, it is your scheme and it will go by this name’.
The former cop says she is a product of three P’s that have helped her navigate the most treacherous paths in life — Purpose, Priority and Persons. “My purpose is very clear; it is value addition. My priorities are absolutely clear… and then there are people. I don’t have any wrong person around me, either at home or professionally.”
Original Women Network is a platform powering women with inspiration and information to achieve their ambitions. This interview is part of the leadership talk series. You can watch the full interview here:
