SIGHT & SOUND
Disaster unlimited
Amita Malik

I have never seen anything like it, not on TV, not anywhere else. Perhaps those who saw the man-made destruction of Dresden by bombing had seen a once-proud city decimated, but that was during World War II. And Hiroshima and Nagasaki were in a class by themselves. We in this part of the world have seen the tsunami. But that was a natural disaster that hit only coastal areas and the sea was the culprit. Tsunami came along the ground, but Hurricane Katrina came from above and brought the once-proud city, New Orleans, to its knees.

Full kudos to CNN for its coverage. Its reporters — standing in the midst of death, devastation and looting — reported the whole mess, sometimes in tears and sometimes risking their lives. The baby who was washed away, but miraculously restored to its mother’s lap by a stranger was an act of human compassion and sheer luck. The parents spoke spontaneously into the camera. There were no silly questions like ‘how do you feel’. Such questions are only common to our channels.

Large sweeps of the camera showed devastation in New Orleans. The helplessness of people dying of starvation and aid coming in too late was mentioned angrily by commentators. The mayor, governor and local politicians and officials did not spare President George W Bush and the rest for their ineptness and callousness. It was not merely hinted that it had something to do with racism, and poor Blacks being expendable.

The attempt of US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice (herself a black, and conveniently so) to rebut the race bias charge did not cut much ice. The very fact that India has donated money for relief to the American Red Cross and many such offers of help have also come from less affluent countries showed that the most powerful country in the world has feet of clay. And that long-term disaster relief funds for the area had been siphoned off almost completely to the war on Iraq only proved that politicians are the same everywhere, more interested in power than the people. I repeat, the media did a splendid, unbiased job and were ruthless in criticism. We in this part of the world can take comfort and courage from the fact that we did much better over tsunami.

When I get depressed about the state of Indian cricket, I take a comforting escape route. ESPN and Ten Sports are reminding us of what Indian cricket, and the big stars used to be. There’s a nostalgic series, India Glorious, which shows matches won by India in the 1970s and ’80s. In the take on the famous centuries, one saw Sachin, Saurav, Azhar and the rest attacking the best bowlers in the world with zest, and sometimes with contempt. They do not act defensive and nervy. Incidentally, of late, even Dravid has started doing that.

Someone has suggested, seeing how well Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Waseem Akram are now doing as commentators, that all our batsmen who are now a sorry lot should retire and become commentators for the World Cup and leave it to the Kaifs, Dhonis, Yuvrajs and a new generation of youngsters to take on the World Cup with Kaif as captain. And spare us the noodle straps. This was not just said in zest by some cricket experts I know. It is also being said in more polite terms at the several analytical sessions held after every match in which India figures, and by retired cricketers like Bishen Singh Bedi.

I am not sure if it was a good idea to solicit on TV opinions on Sania Mirza’s performance by Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, since Sania is herself her best critic. I was particularly amused when Sharapova said Sania was young and will learn with experience, as she herself is younger than Sania. Serena after saying that Sania was "the best thing to come out of India" added that she was "a nice girl". Of course, she is and the quality I like most about her is her guts.