o lack of support.

There were different reasons and circumstances for the
starting of these two publications. I had been working
as a correspondent for Sportsweek of Bombay, and the
idea of starting the Goal came from there.

With sports picking up, one felt there was scope for a
weekly focussing mainly on local sports affairs. I was
aware that in a venture of this type, I would be
requiring a lot of money, which I did not have. But
what weighed in my favour was the fact that in
partnership with a friend of mine, we had taken the
Diario da Noite press, owned by Luis de Menezes, on a
contract basis, to print a full-fledged paper the Goa Monitor,
owned by Erasmo Sequeira in 1977, under the name of
Polygot Publication, Campal.

The Goal, therefore, could be a by-product, as the
infrastructure for producing it, including the printing
staff, was in place. The only cost involved would be
the news-print for the tabloid. As for the writing
part, I was going to do most of it, while a few friends
of mine promised to write gratis. Unfortunately for us,
the Goa Monitor was forced to fold up, as Sequeira's
press staff went on strike. It also meant the premature
death of "Goal", on which one had pinned high hopes, as
it was steadily picking up in sales and, surprisingly,
even getting a few advertisements from big industrial houses.

In the case of Konkan Mail, the whole concept was born
out of a missionary zeal.

When I approached Mathias Vaz, owner of the Maureen
Printing Press, and P.M. Vaz, proprietor of Manvins
Courier Service and Manvins Hotel, with the idea of
bringing out a bilingual paper, which would contain
news catering to both English-language and Roman
Konkani readers, they immediately agreed.

Papers which published general news in Konkani, were in
Devnagri script, which many of the Catholics, specially
those in the 30+ age group, could simply not read. It
was for this section that the Konkan Mail would cater
to. While Mathias handled the entire printing, P.M.Vaz
would take care of the distribution and couriering
part, besides providing office space and the use of his
computers in his hotel, while I would handle the
editing.

The soft launch of the first copy of 18 pages, costing
Rs. 2, was done by the Member of Parliament Eduardo Faleiro,
in the city, where a few prominent citizens were the
invitees.

For the nearly four years the paper was regularly
published, there was great enthusiasm shown by th