TSUNAMI: 7 HOURS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD By Satinder Bindra HarperCollins Price: Rs 395 Pages: 291

This book really should have been titled How CNN Covered the Tsunami Disaster. At a time when the explosion of news channels resembles nothing less than an electronic tsunami of information and images, it is so easy to forget the revolution that Ted Turner brought about with his Atlanta-based, 24-hour news network and the resources that CNN commands. During Operation Desert Storm, Peter Arnett's live reports from Baghdad transfixed the world. If you weren't watching CNN you must have been on a different planet. That was before Indian television viewers were swamped by the news-channel revolution, pushing networks like CNN into the background.

PICTURE SPEAK

Car Nicobar after the tsunami

TV news, by its very nature, caters to a limited attention span, even if it is about something as epic as the December 26 disaster. Five months down the road, memories of the devastation caused by the tsunami across Asia and the horrific human suffering that resulted have receded like the killer waves. Satinder Bindra, CNN's New Delhi bureau chief, brings it all back in this breathless account of how the TV network covered the disaster, mostly through his own reportage. He was holidaying in Sri Lanka when the tsunami struck and stayed on to cover the unfolding catastrophe. For journalists, as he writes, it was like camping in the world's largest graveyard.

Mediapeople covering a global event are creating a mini publishing industry by writing personalised accounts of their experiences. Bindra joins the bandwagon but with some vital differences. This is not a commercial enterprise: proceeds from book sales go to tsunami-related charities. There are nuggets of information that were lost in the saturation coverage-some overenthusiastic donors sent a consignment of Viagra marked as humanitarian aid.

The 24x7 coverage given to the event means that much of the content is retracing familiar ground: the stories of Baby 81 and the "miracle boy" Hannes Bergstrom, separated from his father and reunited after his photo was displayed on the Internet. What gives this book greater appeal is the dilemma faced by news organisations while covering a tragedy of such massive proportions: focus on the dead or the living, the human side of the tragedy or the body count, stay objective and dispassionate or answer the pleas for help by people who have lost everything. It also shows how a media giant like CNN contributed-through its coverage-to a wave of global compassion and led to the largest relief operation in history.

There are drawbacks to be sure; the bouts of professional self-congratulation, the excessive space given to Sri Lanka where Bindra was mostly based, a jerky narrative and very little on post-tsunami rehabilitation.

Despite that, this book offers insight into how a major news organisation covers an event of such magnitude spread over such a large area.

DEEPENING DEMOCRACY By Madhu Purnima Kishwar Oxford Price: Rs 595 Pages: 334

The Cycle Rickshaw Bylaws of 1960 says that no person will be granted more than one licence. Bringing many such issues to the fore, Kishwar argues how the poor have missed the globalisation bus.

ZUDORA By Reshma A. Dev WAM Publications Price: Rs 199 Pages: 255

An orphan lives with his cruel aunt and tries to save the world from evil forces. He is not Harry Potter, but Satt. The desi version of Harry Potter is an easy read but lacks J.K. Rowling's wizardry.

FROM VEDANTA TO MODERN SCIENCE By Dr P.V. Joshi Ocean Books Price: Rs 350 Pages: 291

A re-reading of Sankara's Advaita philosophy and his doctrine of maya. Joshi studies Sankara's commentaries on the Upanishads and the Gita to explain the saint-philosopher's relevance in the modern world.