While writing this, I may appear to be very partial to the Margao journos and cops. But reality is that the place is just so colourful. Here's another one. A journalist's spouse posted as a head constable at the Margao police station is audacious enough to accepts matka bets in the police station building.
QUOTE UNCOUTH: One of SP Shukla's latest pursuits is philosophy. Once upon a time, it was English. A Deputy Superintendent of Police never tires of this tale. Mr Shukla, who loves positive interactions with the media and issuing press notes, had just typed out one such press note and called the DySP in. "Maine press note draft kiya hai. Aap jara isme grammer bhar do" (I have drafted a press note. Could you please fit the grammer in?)
Chapter 20: Of sports… and sports journalism
Cyril D'Cunha
Cyril D'Cunha is a figure hardly anybody in post-1961 Goa journalism would not know. While editors came and went, he stayed on at the desk, at the Navhind Times – and contributing to many outstation journals, as outlined towards the end of this essay. Earlier, he began his journalistic career in Bombay. He is highly rated for his knowledge on Goan sports, as also acknowledged by a recent book on Goan football.
It has been such a long while and so much that has happened since, that it has become difficult to recollect everything in the sports that one has been connected with in Goa chronologically. In fact, in what follows, I have mentioned a few dates, which I can connect as correctly as per my records and memory. But in many cases, I've avoided being date-specific, only because I'm not sure of them.
The events were of different hues; but they all stamped their mark on the Goa scene in many ways and only the mean-spirited will fail to appreciate this cross-section of happenings. Agreed, we are not living in a state of hedonists, strictly speaking; yet criticisms, in any form, generally do hurt. It's an universal phenomena and Goa is no exception to that. But then, that's no reason to cringe, as after all, nobody is picture perfect.
Mind you, I'm tracing a period when TV in Goa was an unknown quotient, in the early 1960s. When the cliched few Goan icons were confined only to football players and its organisers. Athlete mates did an occasional whizz in mention, mainly those of past glory. Hockey, cricket and such other sports, as we see today, were yet to establish their mark in the state, though hockey on roller skates was played before Goa's liberation in 1961. The court at Circuit House in Panaji is still there, even if fallen into disuse.
My account is more personal and allied to sports activities I associated with, though I've touched on a few others with less authenticity.
Hockey: If there is a definite whiff of the yesteryear, particularly to my initial attention to field hockey, I have to be excused. More memorable for me, as I captained the first Goa hockey team at the Nationals at Madurai and I'm proud of it.
In 1964-65, a suitable surface to play hockey was at a premium, especially in Panaji. But there were a dedicated lot of persons, who were not deterred by this fact. I recollect carrying goal-posts and nets to the mini football stadium at Caranzalem, which unfortunately today is non-existent. This was carried on a hand-cart, with me walking alongside, all the way from the city to the ground there, a distance of almost eight kilometres.
There was a lot of enthusiasm among those wanting to play the game, with a few teams showing interest too, especially the Navy. The late Aniceto Fernandes, one of the foremost organisers of Goan hockey and football in Bombay, was mainly instrumental in giving shape to tournaments in Goa, with the help of the then Chief Minister, Dayanand Bandodkar. He also got the Goa Hockey Association affiliated to the All India Hockey Federation and even succeeded in getting a representation for Goa on the apex body.
The Dempo-Souza group in the 'sixties, decided to have a team of their own, and we all joined in. During this time, I also coached a number of women hockey players. Many of my colleagues on the Dempo-Souza team are no longer alive, but for me, they have left behind some pleasant memories. In February 1967, Aniceto conducted the Bandodkar Hockey Tournament and I was put in charge of running it on behalf of the Goa Hockey Association. Then two months later, from April 15 to 23, came the big hockey tournament for women for the Shantilal Cup, with me in charge of the north zone as the selector-cum-manager. Several players who had represented India, especially from Mysore and Bombay, were seen in action. Bandodkar must also be credited with creating a separate Directorate of Sports and Youth Affairs, in 1973.
The Sports Journalists Association of Goa, founded in 1982, of which I was the founder president, did organise a road roller-skating competition on May 8, 1983, which was a great success, as was the bullock cart race organised at Peddem grounds in Mapusa.
Presently, hockey is in a lamentable state, with little or no activity being held and it is more tragic because in the past, Goans elsewhere have represented India. Players like Leo Pinto, Walter D'Souza, Maxie Vaz, Lawrie Fernandes, Reggie Rodrigues, John Mascarenhas and many women internationals.
Football: Thanks to the centuries-old legacy, starting with the presence of the British troops in Goa and the Portuguese, both of whom had a passion for the game, football still remained the craze in the state and it prospered with players using the paddy fields to hone their skills. These details I have mentioned in the book I later published titled Soccer and Goa, on behalf of the Government of Goa.
This enthusiasm was carried forward by leaps and bounds, making Goa one of the most feared of states in the country, throwing up players of repute. Both the clubs and the Goa teams, won tournaments all over the country, with professionalism coming in. No less credit to the founder members of the newly constituted Goa Football Association, which was created after disbanding the erstwhile Association that existed before Liberation and 1961.
Of particular note was the staging of a football match, featuring a team of women, during the Carnival season, on March 4, 1973, at the Police ground in Panaji, between Eves and Adams. This was organised by us members of the Clube Vasco da Gama, and I will stick out my neck to say that it was the first time a match was played with a women's team. Unless, somebody can prove to the contrary.
Athletics: This universally acclaimed discipline as the 'mother of all games and sports', did not progress as desired. On August 1, 1969, Prabhakar Sinari, Francisco Braganza, Rui Carvalho, Domnic Fernandes and myself, got together and formed the Goa Amateur Athletic Association, which functions till today, though with mixed results.
We did win plenty of medals at the National level, but nothing at the international level. Among the main drawbacks were, and still are, finance, lack of infrastructural facilities, including grounds and a suitable running track and of course trained officials. The situation today is much improved, with the government providing coaching facilities and other incentives, especially at the school and college level.
Yet, apart from football, athletics, swimming and taekwondo, which have brought a lot of honours to the state in the past few years, there is little to shout about in the other disciplines. There are a lot of pontification made by the governments, often with political considerations, and these have not been good for the progress of sporting activity in Goa.
As for me, my stint in Goa has been rewarding. Being bestowed with the prestigious and highest state award, the Jivbadada Kerkar Award for Best Organiser for the year 1984-85. Reporting two Olympic Games, at Montreal and Los Angeles, the World Cup hockey at Sydney, the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Bombay, where I also shared the mike for the English commentary, the Asian Games, Permit meets and Nationals in the country, in the capacity of an official, have all been a great experience, besides allowing me the opportunity to globe trot.
One also produced and edited Goa's first sports weekly titled Goal, in 1976-77, and later in 1996, I edited the bilingual fortnightly Konkan Mail, both having to be discontinued due to 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 the readers. But this in itself is not enough for the success of a paper, as any publisher will vouch, without advertisements, which is the main revenue provider. And that is exactly what we lacked. This could be because of a variety of factors, including perhaps, bad management. After several appeals to the readers via the editorials for such revenue support bore no results, we decided to suspend publication, as we could no longer continue suffering losses. We still hope to restart, provided the finance is available; but for the moment we haven't a clue of where this money is going to come from.
Though sports has been my first love, reporting on sports has been an add on. Except for a brief stint on the sports desk of the Free Press Journal, my main grounding on the news and reporting desk was with the Times of India, Bombay, and then on The Navhind Times and back to the Goa page of the Times of India, Bangalore edition, as a stringer, where I also did a lot of sports reporting. I believe that sports journalism helps a lot in the shaping of a good all-round writer, simply because it gives one a free reign to use descriptive language and a variety of verbiage, ordinarily not suited for general reporting.
Be that as it may, I was fortunate enough to work as a correspondent for many publications. Of particular mention was the Indian Post, run by the Singhanias in Bombay and edited by that time by S. Nihal Singh. The paper was to run into trouble later on and later had to close down. By this time, Vinod Mehta had taken charge as the Editor, and subsequently quit, to start The Independent, belonging to the Times of India group. Many of us with the Indian Post joined the editorial team under his leadership in 1989. Incidentally, the Executive Editor, Dina Vakil, who left The Independent to join the Times of India, thanked me in a letter dated May 4, 1990 for my support to the newspaper. I have my utmost regard for all these three, Nihal Singh, Vinod Mehta and Dina Vakil, for their personal gestures.
Among the other major papers where I served as correspondent, were the Financial Express for nine years, the Afternoon, the Tribuna of then Portuguese Macau, a news agency from Lisbon Noticias de Portugal and the NCWC News Service, Massachusetts, USA. It was hard work, and when I look back at those times, I am amazed how I was able to keep to my schedules and enjoy doing it.
Such challenges apart, it has been a great party always and I had a wow of a time.
Chapter 21: From journalist… to publisher
Niraj Naik
Niraj Naik, known for his coverage of rural and remote Goa in the 'nineties, is today publisher and editor of the Digital Goa. This fortnightly, the only specialist publication of its kind in Goa – covers the IT industry in the state. He has worked in the Delhi media, and was located for some time in Malaysia.
Without doubt, one owes one's career in journalism to the emergence of Konknni (Devnagari) journalism with the launch of Sunaparant. One was then still a college-going lad, having very strong views on the number of issues. The Konknni agitation was at its peak and I was a staunch Konknni supporter. On a parallel track, one had also started questioning not only the obvious excesses flowing from religious fundamentalism but also ritualism and, subsequently, the very concept of God.
It was a time when I was also leaning towards socialism. Contrary to the projected image, life around you in Goa can tend to get suffocating. Given my rural background, I wouldn't have had confidence to write in the English-language newspapers, and the bitterness generated in those days over the language issue prevented me to opt for Marathi.
So, the launch of first Devnagari-Konknni daily Sunaparant gave me the much needed platform to express myself. There was no looking back after that, and I wrote hundreds of articles in Sunaparant to make a vent to my inner feelings. Gradually, I switched my interest towards current affairs and hard news. In the meantime, one had a short stint as an activist, working on the number of socio-economic and environmental issues confronting Goa. But, my temperament did not allow me to stay there for long and I decided to come back to active journalism.
Herald was my obvious choice, given its image as the 'activist' newspaper and, at that time, being the only paper which had escaped from the clutches of all-pervading mining lobby, which till recently controlled most of the Goa press. My first pieces were a series on the socio-environmental impact of iron ore transportation in the village of remote Sanvordem, a problem that is otherwise very seldom noticed in distant Panaji, more so in the world of the English-language press.
It was one of the first comprehensive documentation of the explosive situation prevailing in this part of Sanguem Taluka, due to the unbridled ore transportation by over 500 trucks on a small stretch cutting across barely 17 kilometres, and passing through the densely populated village of Sanvordem.
Derek Almeida was the News Editor of Herald then. He was the one who encouraged me to do another series on the also-distant Canacona taluka, which was in the news in those days for opposing number of larger tourism projects. I actually spent a week in the different localities of Canacona, including a over-night stay at Cotigao wildlife sanctuary. This was followed by number of stories on the developmental and environmental issues in Goa.
Herald was going through a transition when I joined the paper. Diedre Sampayo-Fernandes had just taken over as the publisher of the Herald and was taking keen interest in the affairs of the paper. She made an unsuccessful attempt to streamline the functioning of organization. On the editorial front, Rajan Narayan had become almost defunct due to his deteriorating health. Devika Sequeira and Pamela D'Mello had just quit and Julio D'Silva (who, in the ever-so-political world of newspaper politics, was perceived as being close to Rajan Narayan) was brought into Panaji as the Chief Reporter, on shifting Alaric Gomes to Margao. Franky Fernandes of Vasco joined, shortly followed by Rupesh Samant. It was an entirely a fresh team.
For some reason, the reporting desk was given the lowest priority. I had to handle the reporting-desk single handedly for months together. Besides, also perceptible was the same instability at the top during those couple of years, around the mid-nineties. We saw as many as four to five mainly outstation deputy editors come and go. Hardly anybody could withstand the internal politics and rivalry. We were grappling in darkness in the absence of the required guidance. There wasn't any motivating force. Meanwhile, Julian also made her foray into reporting after working in the magazine section for couple of years.
The post of Chief Reporter was vacant for quite sometime following the resignation of Julio Da Silva. His perceived closeness with BJP had probably started long before he joined BJP, to contest Cuncolim constituency on that party's ticket in the 1998 Goa assembly elections. But ambition cost him both a career and a (political) seat. Meanwhile, Ashley do Rosario rejoined the Herald after a stint with The Navhind Times ended. After keeping him without designation for awhile, Ashley was finally given the post of Deputy Chief Reporter. To some of us, this trend – of using designations as carrots or baits, and apparently handed out in a manner far from fair – was demoralising, specially since we had run the show when nobody was around. Personally, one was never comfortable with mainstream reporting. My biggest 'weakness' was politics, or rather, a healthy skepticism about it. I always hated politics, more so the superficial level at which it gets reported in newspapers. Unfortunately, politics has long been the mainstay for our newspapers. This lopsided stress on politics in the media, especially in the Goan media, has not only undermined other genuine and more critical issues, but also given undue encouragement to petty politics and crooks.
One always wanted to focus on the more real issues of the people. But routine stories prevented devoting time to such a venture. Special stories of such a nature would usually imply going out of Panaji to the villages. Pressure of covering routine events prevented me to leave Panaji to chase these stories. Instead we had to cover some insignificant press conference of politician X or Y, or somebody else.
There were other beats like the police and courts, which had to be covered on daily basis. There was no appreciation for special or exclusive stories done, but missing of a routine story was taken note of, how-so-ever insignificant it may be. Leave aside incentives on exclusive stories but working in the Goa press can also mean that even travel bill were not reimbursed. This was a general trend in most of the newspapers. All this resulted into many a Panaji-based reporter turning into mere stenographers, ready for the next round of dictation. There seems to be unanimity amongst the desk staff and reporters that whatever words are uttered by a minister constitute the gospel truth, and that is the hot news worthy of wide coverage. This has resulted in ministers getting unwarranted prominent displays on front pages for the various announcements they make, but which more often than not never see the light of the day. I recollect a practice one reporter was engaged in. He would arrive at the Secretariat late afternoon, and would visit ministerial cabins to hunt for stories. There would be literally a begging for stories. Some ministers used to oblige, and needless to say, the story would get a prominent position in the next day's edition. The entire spectrum of Goa-based newspapers could be categorized on the basis of their political affiliations, stand on the language issue and the lobby they belong to. Though most of the papers shift their policies in favour of the ruling party of the day, the papers were strongly divided on the lines of language. All the Marathi newspapers, with the exception of the Rashtramat, supported Marathi. On the other hand, Sunaparant, Rashtramat and Herald supported Konknni, and some papers remained neutral or avoided a clear stand on this issue.
However, the major difference was the lobby they belong to. At that time, all the significant Goa-based papers, with the exception of Herald and Tarun Bharat, were owned by mining corporations. Needless to say, that there was a total blackout of all mining-related stories which showed the industry in poor light. This embargo exists till now. Only one difference has crept in; the Gomantak group, which publishes Gomantak (Marathi) and Gomantak Times, has been taken over by the Sakal group of Maharashtra. It is the worst kind of self censorship by a section of Goan press which deprives a voice to the thousands of people living in the mining belt in miserable conditions due to pollution of air, water and land. My discontent was growing as a journalist in a Goan newspaper. I was looking out for an opportunity to move out from here. And at the first opportunity, we – meaning, my wife and myself – descended in Delhi for the more enriching experience which completely changed my outlook towards life and helped to change the course of my career.