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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.) As for the writer of this chapter, one carried on writing... and enjoying it immensely. But for most of the past 20 years, that has been for an audience largely outside the Herald. By some quirk of fate, one managed to leave the Herald exactly after four years, as planned. (Thanks to statehood, the Deccan Herald decided to have it's first full-time staff correspondent in Goa. Work on the news-desk was fast ceasing to be a challenge, and the politics on the job also made life difficult, even if the team that worked there had a good team spirit and a youthful have-fun attitude towards life.) Also, as planned, one put in a two-line resignation letter. As anticipated, my absence there was not viewed as a loss; anyone who stayed on too long got the feeling he or she was becoming a liability -- or that the law of diminishing returns were applying. Whatever may have been my failings, some of my colleagues pointed to the fact that this writer was one of the few who had been around from Day One, and was known for his attempts to bring out a good product. Paste-up artists would comment, "The day you leave, there will be a lot of disappointment." I suffered from no such delusions. In part, because nobody is indispensible. In greater part, because one was aware of the attitude of Rajan Narayan towards anyone who might one-day be competition. Right I was. When I told Rajan of my decision, he had just one question in mind: where are you going? On being told that it was the Deccan Herald, a visible sign of relief appeared on his brow. Not only was one not joining the Gomantak Times, then viewed as the looming-on-the horizon competition, but also another journo was getting out of the way. Or at least, that was how one intrepreted it. Perhaps one was not wrong. Since then, one was at Deccan Herald for the first seven years, a period during which staffers were not officially allowed to write for o
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