Book Review: Bullets and Bylines- From the frontlines of Kabul, Delhi, Damascus and beyond

Book: Bullets and Bylines: From the frontlines of Kabul, Delhi, Damascus and beyond

Author: Shyam Bhatia

Publisher: Speaking Tiger

Pages: 248 

Rs 599

Bullets and Bylines by Shyam Bhatia is a must read not only for all journalists and journalism students, but also for everyone out there who runs down the profession saying it has hit its nadir.

Three years ago, iconic journalist Christopher Dobson encapsulated events surrounding the Cold War, the space race, Vietnam, the crisis in Cyprus, the six-day war between Israel and its Arab neighbours and conflicts in Afghanistan and Ireland, of which he had a ringside view as foreign correspondent, in his celebrated Bombs, Bullets and Bylines. Bhatia's book not only has a similar-sounding title but is equally, if not more, hard to put down.

Its seamless compelling narrative leaps off the pages with such a felicity that this writer read it in one go.

An exceptionally good read (with just one proofing error), the book has the feel of the first, rough draft of history that many call journalism. From being beaten within an inch of his life and held captive by the Mujahideen in Afghanistan and an encounter and friendship with an MI6 operative masquerading as a diplomat, falconer and Arab to the unlikely circumstances which led to a scoop on the Egypt-Israel talks and the massacre of Sikhs in 1984, when he rode through riot-torn Delhi on a scooter to meet then president Giani Zail Singh, it's all there.

There are also accounts of Pakistan's megalomaniacal nuclear physicist AQ Khan and Pakistan's (mis)adventures with nuclear arms technology (which Khan stole in Holland and sold to Libya and North Korea) and driving over landmines in Sudan, which led to the death of a colleague.

But that doesn't stop the London-based Bhatia, who was diplomatic editor of The Observer and editor of Asian Affairs magazine among other things, from indulging the reader with his self-effacing admittance of being made a fool of in Alexandria by a young waiter. His candid narration of how he joined the waiter Demtrius in digging up four different pavements to look for Alexander the Great's tomb, only to be picked up by the local police for unauthorised digging, will leave you in splits.

Mr Bhatia, take a bow for keeping a book like this pithy, funny and heart-warmingly human. One honest admission though. As a journalist, your book left me thoroughly envious.