al Express -- not a mainstream newspaper.
His c.v. spoke of experience at Mirror. But then,
magazine journalism is not the same as what goes into
the making of a daily newspaper. Moreover, the
applicant wasn't even into journalism for quite some
time: he presently dwelt in the dreary world of
advertising and public relations, at one of Mumbai's
lesser-known firms. Such was the irony.

What the NT had been to Goa's English readers, a
Hobson's choice, Rajan Narayan's application now was to
Raul and me!

Fearing that Patrao may get discouraged enough to
abandon the newspaper idea, my airflow changed and I
convinced A.C. Fernandes that we invite the man and
take a closer look at his credentials. Rajan was lodged
at Panjim's Hotel Mandovi (I wonder if he ever stayed
there again, used as in later years he was to offered
or obtained five-star hospitality across Goa's coast!)
Patrao, Raul and I met him. The parleys went so long in
the afternoon that there was no restaurant open for
lunch. Rajan and I had to make do with puri bhaji at
Cafe Real (I wonder, again, how he'd have raved and
ranted in his latter-day popular Sunday column, Stray Thoughts
. But beggars were not choosers, those days.)

To me, Rajan came out as a clever and crafty mind. But
again, what the heck! At that point of time, the NT had
a clever and resourceful skipper at its helm. I had
known Bikram Vohra from my days at the Indian Express.
When marched to Ahmedabad as Resident Editor of the
IE's local edition, to fend off competition from the
formidable Times of India, one could count on Bikram to
come up with extremely off-beat ideas: he painted the
town red with the slogan, Keen ahead of the times, read
the Express! To compete, we would need a crafty mind
and I though Rajan fitted that bill pretty well. From
me, Rajan wanted to learn more about Goa --- its
history, economy, religions, cultural mix the
background of its English-language press and, of
course, of the A.C. Fernandes clan.

Rajan was obviously impressed with my views on how the
newspaper should be. He said he was immensely happy to
have me around, that things would be difficult talking
to A.C. Fernandes and Raul alone. He was also glad I
would be the newspaper's Chief Staff Reporter. He
pleaded that I stay back in Panjim that day, so we
could discuss in greater detail. The kid that Raul then
was, also decided to stay back. We sat in Rajan's
Mandovi room, drinking his favourite Old Mo