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