s 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