tself from such
heinous activities. Once again, Goa's flirtation with
other cultures in a bid to make the most of its
picturesque rural ideal is put into question.

One of the major benefits of such a small team bringing
out fortnightly publication is that we had the
opportunity to experience each of the many ingredients
that make up a well-rounded news magazine.

Towards Christmas, to lighten the load of the heavy
political wrangling, I took to the fields. The paddy
fields that is. As a Goan urban dweller, I am familiar
with the white side of rice -- as it appears in all its
culinary simplicity and elegance on the plate. I am
however completely ignorant of the involved process of
getting to that stage. An 'expose' on the inner
workings of the paddy harvest -- the cutting,
thrashing, pounding and milling -- gives me the chance
to wade through the paddy, chase frogs, and be
generally mocked by good-tempered field workers. Not
quite sure if this is in the general job descriptions
of most journalism openings.

As the season starts to draw to a close, like a hungry
tiger the news machine goes in search of whatever
morsels are on offer. Once again the rains come and
Panjim is filled with the sight of sodden journalists
speeding around in reversed raincoats.

For personal reasons, it's time for me to head home.

On return, an enthusiasm for media leads into trendy
multimedia and somehow I end up dumped in full-blown
information technology, where I am today. As such, I'm
not in the perfect position to be able to compare the
practice of journalism in Goa with that of elsewhere,
although the peculiarities of the working environment
do stand out.

From the original office on the dusty top floor, we are
eventually reshuffled into the air conditioned first
floor vault. The cool air brings a much needed respite
from the heat and dust, and the environment is
definitely less makeshift. The room does have another
feature -- low hanging beams at the end and
(particularly hazardously) in the middle of the room
level out the worst excesses of pomposity with a short
sharp shock. I'm not sure if they are part of a larger
shrewd plan of management, but over the years they have
cracked the head of a number of prominent Goan
journalists and contributors. Exactly quite how this
has affected the quality of output, I'm unsure.

And then there was the technology. Aside from the
hardcore printing machines, large metal plates and