COUNTDOWN

A book review of Amitav Ghosh's COUNTDOWN

A considerable amount of research and field work by the author is evident in this book. Written in the style of a travelogue, Ghosh's book gives an insight into the approaching doomsday which the subcontinent faces in the aftermath of the nuclear tests conducted by India and Pakisthan.

The narrative progresses as a series of interviews taken by the author with persons strongly linked to the nuclear policy of the two countries. The interviewees includes politicians, scientists, social activists, defense experts and local residents of the place where the nuclear blasts were conducted. The interviews, particularly with George Fernandes, Chandan Mitra, Asma Jahangir & Kanti Bajpai makes for interesting reading. Maintaining a lucid style, the writer manages to delve into the deeper issues of the 11th May, 1998 Pokhran blast and the subsequent Pak blast in reply and comes up with startling revelations. The horrific consequences and the adverse effects that stares in the face of the denizens of the two countries have been highlighted. Overall, in just a hundred odd pages the writer has successfully managed to touch a whoe gamut of issues related to nuclear proliferation in the subcontinent. This is a thought-provoking book. Buy/borrow it, read it, think about it.....

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