That she had a three-month old child in her arms when she became the first woman to top the London Bar exams is enough to have me starting an imaginary Mexican wave in a huge stadium, in admiration for her. But Leila Seth has many such milestones tucked away behind that disarming grandmotherly smile and grace.
If you thought lawyers and judges were all knotted up in complex legalese and were beyond understanding, you should have seen her disprove that with panache at the launch of her book “We, the Children of India - The Preamble to our Constitution” recently at Crossword. Leila Seth was the first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and the first woman Chief Justice of a state High Court in India. She will soon turn 80.
Targeted at children aged seven to 11, Leila Seth says she chose to work on the Preamble because it's a visionary statement. “Only if you have a vision, will you follow it,” as she explains. Children usually start civics as a subject in school at 12 and find it boring. “But the earlier they learn, the more it becomes a part of their daily living,” she says. In recent times, however, the NCERT text books show a big improvement and so there's no need for books on a similar line for the older age group, she feels.
While she's not new to writing, (her first book was her autobiography “On Balance”) she says this book was difficult to write. “I'm not really a writer. I've written judgements and speeches but the autobiography was emotional — it was from within and factual. But this book was difficult because what I understand as simple, kids find difficult to comprehend. My challenge was how to bring these difficult concepts into a child's mind,” she explains. In fact, while writing the book, she told her granddaughter she was writing the book to make her a good citizen. To which the five-year-old retorted “What's a citizen?” Leila Seth served on the Law Commission of India till 2000 and was responsible for bringing in many changes to existing archaic laws and acts. One question that bothers many of us today is how so many people get away these days, considering themselves above the law of the land? Explaining how the RTI Act is a good weapon against such people, she goes on to discuss how the Lokayukta in Karnataka was unsuccessful at first, and then managed to get some powers after resigning. “When there are more people objecting to what's going on, we'll have change. That's when you tip the balance. That's what can be explained as the ‘100th monkey phenomenon',” she says and explains the experiment.
Japanese scientists studying monkeys in captivity observed how they all ate sweet potatoes dropped in the mud, along with the dirt. Then, one baby monkey washed it in a nearby stream. Others took their time but slowly followed suit. “So you see, similarly change will come when we have the 100th citizen who'll tip the balance, so to speak.” She agrees that the recent murder of RTI activist Amit Jethwa is a setback to such change. “But it's like being in a war where you don't know how close you are to victory. The thing is not to give up.”
India may be feeling burdened by outdated laws that are screaming out for revision. The process of changing laws may be a slow one, says Leila Seth, but democracy is always a slow process. “It has its advantages — it hears the voice of all,” she points out. And then recalls how while in China in the 80s to study their legal system, a judge explained to her how he pronounced his judgment — get news of a crime, go to the spot of crime, do investigations, go back and write a judgement. “And if people are given a choice, they will always opt for a democracy,” she reasons.
Leila also points out how she found that more than half of the reports tabled to the Law Commission get accepted — that's a good number, she says. “I'm not that despondent,” she smiles encouragingly.
Whenever Leila Seth writes, as much as she holds her own, there's the inevitable mention that she's noted writer Vikram Seth's mother. “It's a great pleasure to have a son who's a great writer. I feel awkward to take praise for myself, but when it's for my son, I lap it all up,” she laughs. When the question of identities comes — is she identified as the author's mother or he, as the chief justice's son, she recalls in delight an incident in Bangladesh. “I was in Bnagladesh as part of a parliamentary group meeting. Going up in a lift, I was being introduced to some Bangladeshis; after some introductions, someone said ‘She's Vikram Seth's mother' and suddenly many of the people there hugged me because they identified with what he writes…I felt so good. I'm proud of all my children.”
Integrating her various identities was one tough balancing act, she admits, and one which had immense support from her husband. Even the kids were supportive, she says, though it was really hard on them. She recalls how six-year-old Vikram had been told by someone that he was lucky he had an intelligent mother. And he'd retorted saying “I don't care if she's intelligent. She's never there when I want her.' But it was the same Vikram who would tell her “Thank God mama you work, and talk about things other than food and servants.” She indulgently recalls how once while they were living in Patna, and got to see English movies in theatres only on Sunday, she had to cancel to help a client being evicted from his home. “I told Vikram to choose — watch the movie or stop a man from getting thrown out of his house. He wanted to help him. He wanted me to do the right thing,” she says with obvious pride as she sits back in her chair with satisfaction.
“We the Children of India” (illustrated by Bindia Thapar), is published by Penguin India (Rs. 150).
