<B>By Deepa BHOOKHUN</B>

I have just finished reading William Dalrymple?s Age of Kali, a book about the Scottish journalist?s travels and encounters in India. The author puts most of India?s problems in the context of the iron age, predicted by the ancient Hindu scriptures explaining that after the golden age of India - way before the Raj - the world order is bound to decline and degenerate to what it is today.

It?s an interesting theory but the danger in believing in it would be that there would be no reason to try and better things and right the wrongs because we would believe in a pre-ordained chain of events - however much sense such a theory may make.

We are also living our very own age of Kali in Mauritius. What could better illustrate this than the recent incident involving a group of former detainees who take the idea of retribution to the extreme and have claimed responsibility for the acid attack on a prison officer?

The iron age of the Prison Service has been preceded by a golden age. A time when detainees woke up every morning to a busy schedule. A time when they had a job to do, when their good behaviour was rewarded with a lessening of their time in jail. A time when those who liked football were allowed to play football. Even against prison officers. A time when those who had musical talents could play musical instruments and perform in front of an audience.

A time when those who liked gardening could plant vegetables that served to feed the entire prison population. A time when detainees manufactured the very uniforms the prison officers wore. A time when they made bread that was renowned even outside the prisons, for its taste and quality.

A time when they learned about values, about life, about relationships. A time when they longed for their families and wanted nothing but to go home and get a proper job where they could use the skills they had learnt during their stay in prisons. A time when those who had developed a dependency on drugs were encouraged to wean off and helped along the way.

Of course there were problems. How could there not be? Prisons are peopled with society?s worse citizens.

In this golden age, violence was used only when needed. In this golden age, there were no PSS. In this golden age, prison officers did not fear for their lives. In this golden age, detainees legally stopped being known as prisoners and were henceforth referred to as detainees. In this golden age, detainees were grateful to prison officers for treating them like human beings despite the horrible acts they had committed. In this golden age, human beings were given a second chance.

After the iron age comes to an end, things are bound to come full circle and the golden age is bound to return.

The question is when?

But our decision makers are also immersed in the iron age. Will they ever wake up?