Who is Kiran Bedi?

We heard early in the morning about a change in the day's schedule. We were going to meeting with a group called India Vision Foundation, and perhaps their founder Kiran Bedi. All we were told was she is famous in India.

After Op ASHA and lunch roulette, we went to Ms. Bedi's offices where an associate gave us an overview of IVF. The foundation provides day care for children of incarcerated women. These children are fed and go to school near the jail and sleep with their mothers in their cells at night. 

Then Kiran walked in. Her office decorated wall-to-wall plaques, trophies, fan letters, photos of her with dignitaries.

Turns out, she's a HUGE deal in India, especially among youth (I later found out a friend who grew up in India would buy clothes to dress more like her!). She first came into the spotlight as the first woman officer in the Indian Police Service in the 1970s. Although she came from a privileged background, she went into the IPS believing the police were there to serve rather than to suppress. She gave Indira Ghandi, the prime minister at the time, a parking ticket! Not everyone thought it was funny. When her enemies tried quash her by reassigning her to oversee Delhi's biggest prison, she responded by completely transforming the prison system.

Since she retired from the IPS, Kiran has become an anti-corruption activist icon exposing corruption and atrocities perpetrated by the government. Giving a voice to the hundreds of millions of people who demand reform and seek a better life. She leads rallies of millions. There's a documentary about her narrated by Helen Mirren. She's been on TED multiple times. And she's sitting there chatting us up.

We asked a lot of questions about corruption in the government, her philosophy, and her background. I particularly liked this about leadership:

Build yourself, not to be a leader. Lead yourself first. Then you'll start influencing others. Practice constant inside-the-boot polish. 

This woman is a symbol for courage, perseverance, and truth. She's emerged through serious personal and professional battles, and continues to confront new challenges as she moves forward. To us, Kiran says she's comfortable with activism and is conflicted with the pull she feels toward politics. She's going to be prime minister of India one day.