The Hindu Business Line : Snow White and the seven dwarfs

RASHEED Kidwai's Sonia: A biography, published by Penguin (www.penguinbooksindia.com) is not too old, though it may not tell you the story of things that unfolded after the recent elections. It is not an authorised biography, either. But Kidwai proceeds to sift through available information about a `very private person' to present "an objective evaluation of her life."

Chapter one relives the tragedy in Sriperumbudur, and the events preceding where readers wonder at the so many turns that lay in destiny's route. What followed was equally tragic: the search for a successor, leading to wrangling in the party, "while Rajiv's body was still lying in state".

Don't be surprised that "there were seven serious aspirants to succeed Rajiv as the Congress chief". However, senior party leaders finally accepted Sonia in 1998 "to forestall the prospects of one of them taking over."

The motto was simple, notes Kidwai: "If it can't be me, it cannot be you either." The first brush with politics had come Sonia's way in June 1975, after the historic Allahabad verdict. From about a year earlier, the tale of two bahus had started, after Maneka entered the household.

Towards the end of the book, in `looking to the future', the author writes: "Some consider her as saintly, a benevolent sort of person who would give up power to go higher in the public esteem. They say Indians hero-worship a person who shuns power." Subsequent events seem to have vindicated these lines.

Cricket, between covers

CRICKET'S devotees are now bombarded with information from TV, magazines, the Net, and so on. "Someone has to stand back and try to pick out what really matters," notes the preface to Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2004, edited by Matthew Engel, and published by Macmillan (www.macmillanindia.com).

The 141st edition is a record of 15 months from September 2002 to end of 2003, and has nine parts. `Comment' is a collection of articles, "led by Nasser Hussain's tribute to Steve Waugh." In part two is `world view' from Simon Wilde. For the first time, Wisden names its choice of leading cricketer in the world, in `the players'. Thirty-nine of the closest rivals of No. 1 are also named, "together with reviews of how they fared during the year." The `records' section does not claim to be more than `a sampler'.

In part seven, "the Laws of Cricket" are back after a one-year absence. "Dates in Cricket History, an old favourite, is also back after a 14-year gap." Don't miss the explanation of origins of the game, included for the first time. One such question: "What is cricket?" Find some time gap to give the book a good shot.

(Books courtesy: Fountainhead, Chennai. E-mail: fhbooks@satyam.net.in)

Keeper of truth

KNOW thyself, advise philosophers and saints. If that goes above your head, you can try instead DNA: The secret of life by James Watson, published by Arrow Books (www.randomhouse.co.uk).

The author, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, tells the story of the amazing molecule since its discovery half a century ago, "following modern genetics from his own Nobel-prize-winning work in the 1950s to today's Dolly the sheep, designer babies and GM foods." The book is aimed at a general audience, "with zero biological knowledge".

A site that is mentioned is DNAi.org — where `i' is for interactive, offering "animations explaining basic processes". On genetic research applied to agriculture, the book notes: "Though it might seem in principle counterproductive and something of an oxymoron, non-germinating seed is actually of general benefit to agriculture in the long run." On that, there could be conflicting opinions.

However, the author argues: "If farmers buy seed every year then the improved economics of seed production promote the development of new and better varieties. Ordinary (germinating) forms would always be available for those who wished them. Farmers would buy the non-germinating kind only if it were superior in yield and other characteristics farmers care about. In short, non-germinating technology, while closing off one option, provides farmers with more and ever improved seed choices." What does future hold for us? "As genetic knowledge grows in centuries to come, with ever more individuals coming to understand themselves as products of random throws of the genetic dice — chance mixtures of their parents' genes and a few equally accidental mutations — a new gnosis in fact much more ancient than today's religions will come to be sanctified." What? "Our DNA, the instruction book of human creation, may well come to rival religious scripture as the keeper of the truth." Will we be ready to sacrifice our gods at DNA's altar?

Levers to push the world

WANT to read about how the first newspapers and postal system started and slowly lead to the rise of the mass press, telecom, movies, and so on? Paul Starr's The Creation of the Media, published by Basic Books (www.basicbooks.com) is the answer. Starr, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, shows in his book "how critical choices about freedom of expression, ownership of media, the architecture of networks, secrecy, privacy, and intellectual property have made the modern media as much a political as a technological invention."

News was a luxury. Thus "in London by the late 1500s, commercial news-writers were providing an aristocratic news service, sometimes to as many as a hundred or more clients." These were events reported in chronological order, "usually in a sentence or two." Is Media the lever that Archimedes spoke of to help him move the world? "Many people hoping to move the modern world have thought that the media offered them a lever long enough and place to stand — the place being in front of a microphone, camera, or computer screen."

You almost nod, but Starr adds: "Mostly this is a delusion, as so many people are pushing in different directions." A sobering statement for our spin-doctors. "But the media certainly are mighty levers, and where our world moves in the future will depend on critical choices about them we have yet to make." Don't miss Starr.

(Books courtesy: Landmark, Chennai. www. landmarkonthenet.com)

Tailpiece

"Before studying, I have decided to prepare... "

"Notes?"

"No, a `minimum programme'."

ReadingRoom@TheHindu.co.in

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
CAs are ready to train, but there are few takers

A sitting fee that doesn't stand in law

Water charges and rent in watertight compartments

Everybody has a say in the making of the Budget

Snow White and the seven dwarfs

Understand that you are all totally dispensable

Cartoon