dangerous chemicals lying around, the computers that
sponged up our picture and prose were actually more
contemporary than the ones I had left behind as a
Liverpudlian accountant. As the adoption of the
computer had come in here at a much later stage, the
Herald machines tended to be newer, faster and bigger.
There were just fewer of them. Working under such
limited resources would at time inevitably lead to
fractures. Although we worked on the computers
feverishly in the morning to make way for the daily
staff (whose strict deadline gave them precedence), as
deadline approached tempers could occasionally erupt.

This thing called the Internet had been kicking around
for a few years but towards the end of my tenure was
finally picked up by a journalist fraternity that had
viewed the Internet with scepticism and suspicion (as
did many other people at the time). For us it was just
a dial-up modem taking about two minutes for a standard
sized email, as long as nothing happened to the fragile
connection. As our publication was aimed squarely at
the Goan living abroad, this was an excellent resource
for finding out what the Goan diaspora was up to and
how Goa was perceived on the world stage (especially
important in the area of covering tourism). As an
aside, it also meant that I no longer had to write all
the letters to the editor. Other resources such as the
Goacom website appeared, with intentions sturdy enough
to keep it valid to this day (I can heartily recommend
the recipes!). I think it is safe to say that the
Internet has irrevocably changed the face of
researching, collecting and distributing news. The
availability of this service in The Herald and other
Goan papers marks Goa out as one of the more fortunate
areas of the developing world.

I often wondered how powerful the pen we were wielding
actually was. Beyond the massage of ego of seeing a
by-line in print, it was hard to work out if our
columns of verbiage could actually make a positive
meaningful difference. Covering the depletion of fish
stocks after the rains did, to my surprise, seem to
create a few ripples.

Liquor (hard and soft), was often present in the world
of Goan journalism. Anecdotal evidence from the UK and
US suggests that this is common throughout many other
parts of the world. As with many stereotypes, the one
of the hack at the bar does contain some truth. There
is a quite widely held belief that alcohol gets the
mind churning an