On one of my visits to the Tihar prison complex as a journalist in the mid-90s, I returned with a sense of incompleteness. I realised one could barely do justice to a news story in just a 90-second telecast. Apparently, the story matched the prescribed norms of a newsroom but I wanted to do more. For years, my name appeared as a journalist on television, and I kept covering crimes of different hues and shades. A combination of circumstances convinced me to look at other dimensions of the criminal justice system, and thus there was a shift to more responsible journalism with a focus on human rights and prison reforms. This was the period when a spiritual intervention propelled me to devote myself to this cause, which took formal shape years later with the birth of Tinka Tinka Foundation (which will be referred to as TTF here on). So, what you read here has a deep-seated root.
The first project, titled Tinka Tinka Tihar, (2013) included a book, calendar, theme song and mural painting. This project was a landmark and created many records, but the journey was more eventful. Hours spent with inmates in Tihar kept inspiring me to help transform lives. This was the first book of its kind to emerge from behind the bars, with four women inmates as poets. The formula worked: they were encouraged to be the storytellers of their jail experience. The book was an outlet for their creative expression and fulfilled some of their communication needs. This project made me ponder the inadequacy of creativity and communication in jail life.
Tinka Tinka Dasna (2016) resulted from sustained efforts at Dasna jail in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. It specifically dealt with the lives of those undergoing life imprisonment. A unique 3-D wall, calendar, book, recorded interview with an inmate and a collection of poetry by first-time writers, again fulfilled some of the communication needs of inmates.
Tinka Tinka Madhya Pradesh (2018) entailed extensive visits to different jails in Madhya Pradesh. It culminates into the publication of a coffee-table book with 12 men and 2 women inmates, 4 children living in prisons and a prahari (warder) as co-travellers. Each page of this book is a window into life in jail. There are no flowing tears, but colours of love and hope. This book is considered a masterpiece on creativity in prisons comparing the jails of Madhya Pardesh to the jails in other states of India.
These books touched upon the unexplored side of crime, punishment and reformation. Although these books could never top the charts of 'most read' and 'most popular' in the commercial book publishing world, they reached the barracks, where inmates could read them. Every participant was given due credit in these books. The challenges faced during the work have only encouraged me further. Getting permission and building a communication bridge with inmates was a herculean task, but they were done with passion. These have yielded befitting results, benefitting inmates, jail authorities and the outside world.
Later, I decided to take up action-oriented work on radio in prisons. This is an ongoing journey that attempts to build on the contributions of inmates to promote a culture of establishing newsrooms in jails, training inmates as Radio Jockeys (RJs) for radio production, musical compositions, paintings, active engagement with the Tinka Prison Research Cell, documenting and preserving prison literature and art through exclusive Tinka Jail Radio podcasts-all these initiatives transformed jails into creative hubs. Several participants (both inmates and staff) volunteered their time to share stories and facts related to the unexplored territories of prison life. These prolonged, conversations with former inmates and their families. visits to numerous prisons across India and the prisons of Norway and Mauritius have added to this experience. Presenting a paper on prison radio in Madrid, Spain, and representing India at the first international prison radio conference in Oslo, Norway, gave me confidence that the Tinka Model of Prison Radio is certainly unique and systematic.
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