Countdown

 



Name : Countdown
Author : Amitav Ghosh
Year of Publication : 1998
Genre : Non-Fiction, International Relations
Rating : **** (4 stars out of 5)

A short travelogue written in 1998 in the aftermath of the Pokhran tests is eerily relevant today as well. The author visits the villages near Pokhran (where radioactivity has led to public health issues) , Siachen glacier (where soldiers succumb to climate rather than enemy fire), Wagah border ( where muscular soldiers are involved in a comical ritual every day), the then Defence minister George Fernandes (who is cynical about the political lot he belongs to), the fiery Pakistani activist Asma Jahangir (who underlines the moral crises India and Pakistan are going through) and anti-nuclear activists (who estimate the possible deaths in the eventuality of a nuclear strike on New Delhi). Arundhati Roy has written on the same topic in a rabble-rousing manner in her essay "The End of Imagination". Amitav Ghosh creates a similar impact without hyperbole or rhetoric. This little gem must be mandatory reading for any thinking Indian.

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