leo re?" (Who
brought in the chicken yesterday?) "Aayem Patrao, mhaka
rostear podlo mevloleo," (I, boss. I found it fallen on
the road) Jack confessed not unlike a frightened
rabbit. "Faleamson kamank enaka," (You're fired). And
Patrao left. Of course all those who had enjoyed the
chicken the previous day came to Jack's rescue.

In the good old days, the pace was leisurely, stresses
fewer and everything was rosy. But the pay packet was
not growing significantly heavier even after two years.
I was stuck at Rs 500. We were free to ask the then
Manager Gustavo Fernandes for anything except a raise.
Asking for a raise was invariably met with a simply
question, 'Do you want to continue?'

There was no choice. Choice came knocking with the
arrival of Gomantak Times. And some of the more
enterprising journos left their training ground and
joined GT. But, to this day, Herald remains an
enriching and fond experience.

Chapter 13:
Birth pangs at Sant Inez

Elston Soares

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Elston Soares, a veteran of the desk, has worked at the Herald, Newslink and
Gomantak Times. Since moving out of Goa, he has worked in publications in
the Gulf and Singapore.
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February 15, 1987 marked a watershed in the history of
English-language journalism in Goa. That date marked
the launch of Goa's fifth English-language daily to be
launched in the union territory-turned-state.

Fifth, that is, if one includes the now defunct West
Coast Times and Newslink, an English-language newspaper
launched by the Tarun Bharat Group, and targeted at
Goa, though like the Tarun Bharat in Marathi earlier,
it too was printed from the neighbouring city of Belgaum.

This writer spent two months with Newslink in late 1986
in Belgaum, together with Haseeb Shakoor and Derek Almeida,
bringing out the newspaper in very trying and
primitive conditions.

Strangely, the Tarun Bharat group then thought that
they could do another Tarun Bharat with Newslink, that
is, to produce a newspaper for the Goa market from
Belgaum. But with one significant difference.

We did not have the wide correspondent network of Tarun
Bharat. We were, instead, expected to translate the
stories from Marathi -- something we did rather more
successfully in Gomantak Times a few years later.

But then, at Belgaum, this was a task easier sa