ing
to explore the new paradigm? It is so easy to stay in
the bunker of assurances. No conclusions, no certainty;
only performance analyses, management matrices, and
practical wagers. We really do need a bunch of newsroom
narkasurs here.

Can one seek for and hope for such a dimension in Goa?
Will 'aparanta' provide it? Not readily. Early in my
apprenticeship as a correspondent in Goa I ran into the
local brand of sarkari thought. It was one of those
endless afternoons in the old press room, the one in
the corner of the Idalcao. A minion from one of the
chambers above clattered in through the swing doors and
muttered something. He was half asleep and so were the
occupants of the press room, those who were not
wrestling with the typewriters.

We all streamed out, following the minion. Through the
wooden security gate we filed, the one that is supposed
to detect the presence of suspicious metal objects on
one's person, and up the stairs we climbed. Across a
landing whose timbers had been scuffed shiny by the
passage of tired footwear, then down a verandah over
which hung tattered pieces of plastic in an ugly and
half-hearted attempt to keep out the rain. And finally
into some functionary's room.

It turned out to be occupied by some minister, who
lolled indulgently behind a desk. He was Luizinho Faleiro,
before he became a big wheel, but who was even at the
time odious. We chose seats. Greasy khitmutgars passed
amongst us, proferring cups of tea and soggy biscuits.
Luizinho grinned a sepulchral grin, as if privately
awaiting the demise of one or another of those who had
just seated themselves. Then, as if disappointed by the
absence of such drama, he coughed and began.

"I have called you here," he announced brusquely, "to
comment on..." and there followed some dull government
programme or the other. Luizinho, with another
graveyard grin, then collected his belly, cleared his
throat and barked: "Take down!". And then proceeded to
provide what I can only call dictation. To the credit
of about a third of his audience, they did not whip out
a notebook to scribble. The rest, shamefully, played
the part of stenographers. It was my first encounter
with the Establishment's view of the Press, and of the
willingness of that part of the state's press to permit
such a relationship.

Luizinho was merely following tradition, just as surely
as the passage of the full barges bearing iron ore,
which announced themselves w