Tipping the balance

Getting kids to read about the Indian Constitution is no mean task. And when the first lady of the high ranks of India's legal system, Leila Seth, decides to tell children a story, one sits up and listens in.

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, Bangalore. 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.

Full report here Hindu