The bold Borwankar

Legendary top cop Julio Ribeiro, 92, penned an interesting column recently, in which he bracketed two very different women-a top cop (Meeran Chadha Borwankar) and the much-discussed TMC MP Mahua Moitra. Frankly, I cannot think of two women who are more dissimilar, but I loved Ribeiro's very modern take on both.

- SHOBHAA DE

I had briefly seen Moitra at the Jaipur Lit Fest earlier this year, where she had swept past the gawkers, swishing back her hair, and adjusting her fine sari, surrounded by hefty bouncers and a flock of drooling admirers. She looked and behaved like the diva she indeed is.

At the Tata Lit Fest in Mumbai this week, I was on a trailblazers' panel with a bona fide star-the indomitable Borwankar, whose latest book, Madam Commissioner-The Extraordinary Life of an Indian Police ief, has been creating waves and ruffling several political feathers since its launch. Borwankar walked into the author's lounge, without bodyguards or bouncers, and no fawning entourage. Dressed in a smart blazer with an embroidered IPS badge on the pocket, the feisty woman did not need 'showcasing. Soft spoken, with a no-nonsense approach, here was a woman who had handled many highly sensitive, hugely high-profile cases during her tenure, and did it with utmost fearlessness.