I get the concept behind a new year’s resolution. It’s the beginning of a new year, so it’s time for new beginnings, new plan, a new way of life… But I don’t get why it’s a topic of conversation. Lack of interesting topics or imagination, I guess.
But frankly it’s a little tiring to be faced with people asking each other ‘What’s your new year’s resolution?’ and magazines and newspapers doing polls asking the same question to celebrities every after year. This year I decided, it was enough! I don’t need to know how some actor has decided to change her life in 2008, neither do I want to subject my readers to the same mundane articles.
Your resolution may seem important to you, but it’s rather silly to others, so why bore them with your profound plans for the year. Yes, I have a few resolutions, and yes, unlike most people who never seem to stick to theirs, I will see mine through. And yes, I shall tell you about one of my resolutions. You have been warned. You may stop reading now and run. Although it will be entirely your loss. Because my resolution is neither self-preserving, nor mundane.
This year I want to get involved with an NGO who fight for the hundreds of people locked up in our prisons for petty crimes. It was something that I have wanted to do ever since I read this book called Whither Justice- Stories Of Women In Prison by Nandini Oza. The writer has been to many jails, when she was arrested for fighting for the Narmada Bachcho Andolan, and in her book she talks about people locked up for years and years because they don’t even have 400 rupees for bail. A woman was locked up for 12 years because she was found roaming on railway station one night. The cops thought she was soliciting, but turns out she was new to the city and lost. Many years later, an NGO saved her.
I remember another incident when Anupam Kher had gone to a prison for some programme, and in the photos published later, a man recognized one of the inmates as his missing son. There are hundreds of innocent people locked up in our jails for silly reasons. I want to be able to do something for them. And the wheels are in motion. I am like a woman on a mission. And about excited about it.
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