Tipping the scales of the gender bias

One day in the late 1970s, when Chaudhary Charan Singh, the Jat leader from Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh, was prime minister of India, some of his rural followers trooped into Delhi.

After seeing animals of all varieties at the Delhi zoo, they came to the Delhi High Court nearby so that they could see a woman judge preside over court proceedings.

This, in short, is why we should read On Balance "" the life story of Leila Seth, the first woman chief justice of a high court in India. So we are told all through the 450-plus pages of the book.

The problem is that a woman's rise to professional glory in Indian society dominated by men has now become difficult to sell.

By the time Seth became Chief Justice of the Shimla High Court in 1991, Indira Gandhi had been dead seven years, having ruled over the country with an iron fist, Tara Sinha had lived to great heights in advertising, Simone Tata had made a mark in the corporate world and Hema Malini had settled into retirement after sizzling for long years on the silver screen.

Several Indian women had lived lives no less extraordinary than Seth before her. Still, it is always interesting to know the best-fought cases of lawyers and well-handled decisions of judges.

After practising in the Patna and Calcutta High Courts for 13 years, Seth shifted to Delhi in 1971. This is where the action in the book picks up. Within a few years Indira Gandhi had imposed the Emergency, throwing the whole nation into turmoil.

The judiciary wasn't spared. Gandhi's cronies started talking of a committed judiciary "" one that would toe the government's line.

While a few decided to side with the government, most judges and all lawyers were opposed to it. Seth was in the thick of the drama fighting against the suspension of habeus corpus, though she was accused of being hand-in-glove with Gandhi. (She, in fact, met her only once, that too when she was out of power. Gandhi, on her part, was cold and did not even acknowledge Seth's presence.) The book gives you an insider's account of the legal drama during the Emergency.

In 1995, Seth was asked to head a commission of enquiry into the death of Rajan Pillai, cashew king and biscuit baron. Pillai had died while in judicial custody.

Because he wielded considerable influence in the corridors of power, this brought the government under fire. The government responded by bringing Seth out of retirement to trace the sequence of events which led to Pillai's death.

Pillai's glamorous wife, Nina, had alleged that her husband had actually been murdered. Seth's report brought out the circumstances that led to Pillai's death "" there was no murder, though there was a case for negligence in providing medical assistance to Pillai, who was suffering from hypertension and cirrhosis of the lever.

Seth's book travels a good distance in history. In the process, it paints many a rich picture. From life as "Railway children" to a resident in a convent at Darjeeling and a strict household in Lucknow, Seth is able to draw a vivid picture of different cultures.

Her style is crisp and the narrative simple. After all, she is Vikram Seth's mother. The book also gives you a sneak preview of Vikram's upcoming book based on the life of his London-based great-uncle, Shanti, who had married a German woman during the Second World War.

Once you have turned the last page, you wish Seth had packed less of family and more of the outside world in the book. The pages of the book are peppered with Vikram's frequent bursts of poetry. Though her son is brilliant, the sense of proportion in On Balance sometimes goes missing.

ON BALANCE

LEILA SETH
Viking
Pages: 488
Price: Rs 495