But then, implementing this vision was a problem. For one, Rajan himself didn't consistently follow up on it. Secondly, he didn't seem to believe in having competent persons around him and preferred to work with someone who was less likely to pose a challege in the years to come. In addition, a considerable time was spent in politcking, both within the organisation and beyond.
Working under Rajan meant coping with the unpredictable.
In many cases, Rajan didn't quite give other journalists the impression that they were welcome to contribute to the Herald. (As an aside, one of those asked to contribute a chapter in this book, a senior Goan journalist who has written for a number of national and international publications, misunderstood that the invite was to write for the Herald. The journo simply wrote back a two-liner to declining saying that apart from the lack of time, "Rajan won't accept my name in his paper.")
In one of my freelance stints there, a curious case pertained to a curious firm selling matresses at the price of Rs 60,000 to a 100,000 and more. They claimed all kinds of near-miraculous properties went along with the matresses. Concerned citizens drew one's attention to this issue, and after researching the issue, one wrote one's report on the issue. Rajan was furious. He accused this journalist of "not checking the other side of the story". In reality, the firm refused to let anyone come to their demos, unless they were duly introduced by someone already caught in the costly-matress trap. It later turned out that the persons running the operations in Goa were linked to the family of the publisher that brought out a magazine Rajan had earlier worked for! When this issue was raised during a recent journalist debate, Rajan side-stepped it by raising the issue of whether one was a staffer or freelancer while writing for the paper. He generally confused the issue in some barely-relevant detail, ignoring the questions of there was a clash of interest in his role as editor here, as in many other issues he has faced questions over.
Perhaps the most curious experience for this writer was the one related to "Raul Gonsalves".
Sometime in the late 'nineties, a number of prominent editors in Goa decided to impose a private 'ban' on the writings of that abrasive but persistent letter-writer M.K.Jos . Jos had the style of targetting editors and journalists, which was obviously earning him influential enemies. One may not be a fan of Jos, but clearly a blanket ban on an individual is something very unbecoming of a supposedly democratic society. This writer's feature, focussing Jos with his plusses and minuses, appeared in the weekend magazine section of Herald, then looked after by Ethel da Costa. Retribution was quick to come. A long piece was published, in the same columns which this writer was a contributor to, trying to drag this writer into a fictitious controversy. It also sought to give a veiled 'warning' that anyone mentioning Jos could himself lend in trouble. It later emerged that the article itself was pseudonymously written by the editor of a rival newspaper, claiming to be 'Raul Gonsalves'. Editorial staff of the section confirmed that the contentious article had been published at the behest of Rajan himself.
It could be argued that if Rajan has built a larger-than-life image of himself, that has been premises on the blocking out of a generation of young journalists, whom he himself ironically had a hand in creating. Today, Rajan's indespensibility to the Herald stems from both a perception, not wholly true, that he single-handedly built the paper, and the fact that virtually nobody else in the organisation has been trained or encouraged to write editorials.
To some measure, everyone who shares the above grouse with this writer must be thankful to Rajan. Being pushed out of local opportunity has helped many to get access to wider fields. Today, Goan journalists are employed in a number of places — scattered across the Gulf, to Singapore, Australia, Canada and beyond! Even for those of us opting to remain back home, the hard work involving in 'proving oneself' has helped to open up new doors. Had it not been for such 'push' factors, this writer would have probably been doing a boring job just as a deputy news editor in some local newspaper.
Working in a Rajan-headed establishment also can cure you of ambition. It was simply not worth the heart-burn and infighting to rise to the level of a humble chief-sub. This has helped convince this writer that it's probably worth staying a humble correspondent — possibly even freelance — the rest of one's career, rather than succumb to an ambition that takes bitterness, rancour, cutthroat competition and so much energy just to get a post in which one has to act more as politician or manager rather than an effective journalist?
Needless to say, on the other hand the younger generation of journalists can indeed learn from some of Rajan's good points. In many cases — though not all — he would be quick to highlight criticism of himself, in the paper he headed. His ability to bestow confidence on his juniors helped some to grow. (But, this was upto a point. Also, his criticism and barrage of memos seemed to be more linked to whether he liked someone or not, rather than one's qualities and abilities to put in hard work as a journalist.)