Liberty

After lunch we went out for a stroll. It was hot and we kept to the shaded side of the road. Soon we reached a huge gate and a high walled wide structure. On the gate was written "Arthur Road Jail". My colleague told me that it was always overcrowded. I wondered what kind of world lay behind those walls. Would anyone want to take a selfie here?

As we were looking around, a police van pulled up alongside. Some 10-12 uniformed policemen got down first, followed by several accused. I looked at them. They looked pretty ordinary people. You would not have recognised them in a crowd. Some were quite young, others older. I wondered what their offence was, what crime they had committed and why. They crossed the road, each closely watched over by a policeman, and entered the gate. They had lost their liberty for who knows what period. What effect this will have on their families who were possibly at no fault. We started back pensively to our workplace. We too were tied up in our work. Perhaps by choice or perhaps not. How much liberty we had? How much freedom? I wondered.