Afghanistan: Reports from the wreckage

Ms Basu describes with aplomb the sense of urgency and fear of life that every decision would entail

The Fall of Kabul: Despatches From Chaos

Author: Nayanima Basu

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 216

Price: Rs 599

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While writing, reporters are taught always to be conscious of four things: That “short term” is 12 hours and “long term”, 24 hours, for that is the lifecycle of a newspaper; never to use polysyllabic words; never write a report beyond 800 words; and never, ever reveal sources, at the pain of death or worse.

There is another suggestion by British essayist Samuel Johnson: “Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”

Nayanima Basu’s book honours