Saturday 10 May 2008

TOI... THREE DAYS ON, CRACKS BEGIN TO SHOW...

This is exactly how fallible these buggers are.
Getting a story on mangoes so messed up!!! Look out for the crime stories in TOI guys... Look like a right pretty coconut on the outside, but it has a hollow sound of a
vaz (is that how you spell it? A dud coconut? The one we used to tie to our waist, while learning to swim?) from within...
Lack of quality shows fellas
Miguel Braganza had mailed this to goajourno... Read on...


Dear Editor,

It is rather disconcerting to read half-truths that are more than full lies in the pages of the 3-day old "Goa Edition" of the TIMES OF INDIA. I have earlier pointed out to inaccuracies in Goa related news about Scarlett's autopsies in the Mumbai edition and have had one of your Principal Correspondents accuse me of being vindictive towards her. I am not. I would just like to see truth in print. There are readers who may just believe that everything in the TOI is verified and, hence, truthfull. It is not the case with Raju Nayak's report entitled "Requeim for the Goan mango" with the plug "THE SEED OF WORRY" [TOI Goa Edition of Friday 09 May, 2008 page 2]. Truth is a casualty in an otherwise interesting and thought provoking write-up that could well be a piece of "creative" writing by a pro.
First the visuals that will grab any reader's attention. The caption for the photographs, PULP FICTION, is accurate: it is fiction about about the pulpy mango varieties. The "Colaco" [Culas, Kulas], the "Fernandina" [Fernandin] and the "Furtado" [Furtad] mango varieties are far from extinct. There trees of the Colaco variety and its variant, Santo Antonio, at many places including the Duler Farm in Mapusa. Fernandina mango trees are available in large numbers all over Goa, including the road corner near the Goa Archbishop's residence at Santerxeth in Aldona. Only Furtado variety may be under threat, but it is definitely not extinct as yet.
May be one can see the fresh, ripe fruits of at least one EXTINCT variety, Fernandina, at the Konkan Fruit Fest [KFF] this year. TOI reporters welcome to see the fruits from 16 to 18 May, 2008. It is a bit late in the season for the Colaco and Furtado varieties, but I am sure that the Directorate of Agriculture and the ICAR-Goa would help find a few fruits though they may not be of exhibition quality.
That brings us to the second point: I am NOT the current President of the Botanical Society of Goa or BSG. Dr. K.G.Hiremath, Head of Botany Department in Dhempe College-Panaji, was elected on 30 March and assumed office of BSG President on 01 April, 2008, for a three year period. We are organising the KFF under his leadership this year. The ICAR-Goa is an integral part of the KFF right from the start in 2003. Read more about it in my column in the GT also published today[Friday 9/5/08]
The words attributed to me , QUOTE But Braganza underlined the basic difficulty, "Singh doesn't have any fruit with which to take forward his research." UNQUOTE are malafide and malicious. Further, the one who is supposed to have told the reporter QUOTE "Some 10 years ago, ICAR created a variety called Cardozo-Mancurad, but it was a fruitless experiment." UNQUOTE needs to re-confirm that statment. The "chance seedling" that was christened "Cardozo" in the tradition of Goan mango names is still there in the compound of Dr. Armando Batista Cardoz [since deceased and survived, among others, by his children Ivo and Maria de Ceu Cardoz] on the road to St. Britto HS at Dattawadi-Mapusa. Grafts made therefrom by Mathew have been planted elsewhere in Goa.
A photo of the "Cardoz Mankurad-A seedling selection" fruit can be seen at Fig. 68 opposite page 53 of the book "MANGOES OF GOAN ORIGIN" Technical Bulletin No.1 of ICAR-Goa published in 1997 and which has been read by the people who put together the TOI report as the text has uncanny similarities with what P.A. Mathew wrote in the book after 12 years of research in Goa. Manga Hilario or Mangilar is similarly a "chance seedling" mango named after the father of former Education Minister, Raul Fernandes, from Fernandes vaddo of Siolim now famous because of Remo. I had explained this to Nicole Suares when she phoned me for information to write her piece [Goa Times page 3 08 May, 2008]. She has done her article faithfully. One wonders why my inputs given to her had to be used unauthorisedly and in such a perverse manner by someone else thereafter. Even thieves have some ethics that we journalists in Goa would do well to emulate.
One wonders if the words atrributed to him were truly said Mr. Purshottam M. Colvalcar, former Joint Director of Agriculture who had the good fortune to retire while officiating as the Director, a post he richly deserved but age was not on his side. He has been infirm for some time now ...... and the last KFF was held in 2006 as the Panchayat and Assembly elections last year put paid to our efforts to hold it in May, 2007. I do not know if he did any research on mango but can vouch for the fact that he does not do any professional photography. I will leave it to his contemporary and computer savvy, Mr. Fernando do Rego, to comment on that. Mr. Rego has publication on mango in English and Portuguese to his credit. It is Mr. Rego and my former superior, Mr. K.A.Kazi, who listed the 77 Mango varieties known in Goa in 1979 and is the basis of Mr. P.A. Mathew's research.
The Bispo [Bhism, or Bishop] is a huge, generally insipid mango as I explained to Nicole. It is far from extinct. Infact, the Goa Archbishop's neighbour, Carlos Figueiredo, has a bearing tree of this variety. For those who are really interested in preserving mango varieties of Goa, may I suggest an investment of Rs.50/- to buy the book form ICAR-Goa, a visit to one of the agriculure offices to get the phone number [listed in the Agri Diary 2008] or email ID of one of persons on the acknowledgement page thereof and a free call from any Rs.99/- scheme BSNL telephone. For the doomsday sayers let me quote the Good News according to John: "I have come so that they may have life, life in abundance." [John 10.10] For those who believe, these mango varieties will never die. The KFF is doing its bit to fulfill this prophesy. One may accuse me of quoting the Bible out of context. I plead guilty. However, at least the quote is correct. That is not something I can concede to Raju Nayak in the TOI of 09 May, 2008, unless he believes that mango varieties like Fernandina, Colaco, Bispo can also be resurrected from extinction! Hallelujah!!

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Miguel, just a few days ago you were exclaiming "It is nice to have TOI here." Now you are fuming that they misquoted you and botched up a mango story.Don't you think you have put TOI on a pedestal too soon?

Rag Asundi.

10 May 2008 at 02:03  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Let us face it TOI or no TOI, the Guys who man the paper are the usual suspects who may have changed their papers but the mindset and heart remains in the same place. The Times Group did make a killing out of la'affaire Keeling to launch TOI but the factual inconsistencies, managing celebrities like Remo and making all Goans wear bikinis and shorts (that's what the advert. said) shows that the Editor has to pull up his socks and make these Guys write like the Times and not like Navhind or Herald or Sakaal TIMES.

BTW, till this Comment was being posted Ashwini Tombat (am sure we haven't forgotten the Herald?!) was desperately searching for a layout artists to spice up his Newspaper. They may have stopped the journo - exodus but the seams are showing. Surprisingly, non entities like the Vasco MMC Chairperson and guys we didn't know existed are being played up by TOI and the local imitation of TOI (Navhind). PR in desperation????

10 May 2008 at 08:51  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

so much talk about Goan mango's.... who can afford them? Goans? Think about it. Now the average Goan has to be content with a bottle of mazza. Unless u work for ToI and can afford to splurge on the Rs 300/ dozen malcurado

10 May 2008 at 09:39  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep it up Miguel. But such reports are hardly surprising, coming as they are, from Raju
Na(la)yak. This man, who holds charge as a TOI Metro Editor cannot pen English copies. Take my word for it. Worse still, Raju Na(la)yak is a disgrace to Goan journalism - habituated as he is to quoting people completely out of context.
P.S. With Metro Editor(sic) like Raju Na(la)yak around - TNT, Herald and GT need not panic. Raju Na(la)yak is enough to spell TOI's doom. That's of course, if the
Na(la)yak lasts out there. And if better sense prevails at TOI, they might as well sack the Na(la)yak.

10 May 2008 at 11:41  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Until now, Raju has been used to re-writing reports of different Dailies and passing them off as his own in 'Loksatta'. This man has been off field reporting for donkey's years. Ask any reporter on Panjim beat who will vouch for this info. The more reports he files at TOI, the more this fellow will end up making a fool of himself and will land with an egg on his face everytime. Quit, Raju, if you have any sense of shame left. You reflect very badly on Goan journalism. Nevertheless, a good job, Miguel. Please keep up the good work of keeping Goan scribes on their toes.

10 May 2008 at 11:56  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kay hotas tu, Kon Jhalas tu - Raju.

10 May 2008 at 11:57  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is exactly what happens when a journo is out of touch and relies on mere subterfuge to survive in the cut-throat field of journalism. Raju needs to start all over again as a TRAINEE REPORTER to re-charge himself. Not a degrading thing to do anyway, even cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar call on their coaches like Dronacharya award winner Ramakant Achrekar when the going gets tough. So, Raju, take a break yaar, and start all over again. You badly need a good dose of training.

10 May 2008 at 12:03  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hehehe, and Raju used to file copies for the Indian Express(IE). Hehehe, and he was IE's Principal Correspondent. Hehehe. The cat has finally come out of the bag. Hehehe......

10 May 2008 at 12:05  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Law of Karma - What you do unto others ultimately comes back to you - is finally catching up with Raju Nayak. Ghost writing a column for a Margao based Marathi Daily some five years back, he hit virtually every journalist below the belt. Now, it is his time to get a taste of his own medicine.

10 May 2008 at 16:12  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

'Vinaash Kaale Vipareet Buddhi' -a Sanskrit shloka (Weird/evil thoughts cloud the mind during times of self-destruction). Thoughts(buddhi) of quitting the SAFE(sic) environs of the Express group for greener pastures in TOI has proved disastrous(Vinaash) for Raju Nayak.

10 May 2008 at 16:17  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Goan journalistic fraternity will now witness how a journalist (Raju Nayak) spelt doom for himself thereby hurtling towards the path of ignominy leading to the end of a career. The show has just begin guys, just wait and watch.

10 May 2008 at 16:20  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

why do u all dooms day callers care about Raju? Leave the freak alone...

10 May 2008 at 23:35  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You jurnos are such a disillusioned bunch! All you do is fight over who's a better journalist. To me an aam aadmi (your customer) the reader you are all the same. Same old crap everyday, be it ToI or TNT or GT or Herald. Same old goofs.

I do not understand why you all are whining about ToI. As an average Goan (non jurno) newspaper reader I prefer ToI for the following reasons.

Great return on Investment The same trash appears in all 4 leading dailys. So heres my take; I pay Rs 0.80 per day for 30+ pages of ToI, as against the Rs. 3.00 for 10 pages of TNT/Herald. What this means is that when i sell the newspaper in kgs to my bojjekar (great mirchis too) at the end of the month I make Rs 5 for 1 kg of TNT/herald. But with ToI I would be making Rs 15/month. I do not have to pay my newspaper boy for delivery (Rs. 50 saved by ToI) My total spending on ToI would be Rs. 24 per month as against the Rs 90 +Rs 50 delivery charges.

All in all this to me means only 1 thing. I get all the news from ToI for just Rs 9 per month (30ps per day) as against the Rs 135 for TNT/Herald.

To me this is a great return on investment!

Greater outreach on Indian news and events I cannot figure out what you jurnos keep complaining about... not enough Goan news content on ToI. I was comparing the ToI to the TNT on the day of their launch and they both carried the same stories, only ToI carried a lot more. Mone news from other states, more Appointments (hey theres even the ACCENT included), more classifieds and more international news coverage. They even carry my favorite comics!
Improved Standard of living for jurnos I've noticed how many of you are now able to get better salaries thanks to the ToI. Why does this concern me, a non jurno? Cos I'm sure u bunch would be living a lot healthier and happier. And that can only improve the quality of journalism here......


So all I have to say is Viva ToI.... And stop complaining about nudity, just look at the ads on the panjim-mapusa highway, then complain!

11 May 2008 at 00:06  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i agree with your views one hundred percent "concerned non jurno"

13 May 2008 at 07:02  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

To Anon at 11 May 2008 00:06
TOI has openings for PR slots. Go join them.
P.S. Please take Caje along with you too.

13 May 2008 at 11:52  
Blogger Unknown said...

13 May 2008 07:02 is not my comment but a imposter.
My comments with my name are google signed-in.
Nice try though whoever:-)

13 May 2008 at 11:59  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Caje... Do u realistically believe that your parents invented your name? Come on bud there are so many Cajetans I know.
Is your name a trademark? ...hehehe

I would have told u this personally, but writing anonymously is so much fun.

Come over for a cuppa coffee to cafe prakash... we'll talk about names :)

15 May 2008 at 19:33  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

'Concerned Non Jurno Reader' is obviously a Goan journo; he can't spell!

If he thinks that NT and OH have only 10 pages, he can't count!

And if he thinks ToI gives more news than OH and NT, he can't read!

(In any case, he admits that what he likes most is the comics)

ToI doesn't guarantee home delivery on its subscriptions. Hundreds of people are fighting every day with their news agents asking for home delivery because they listened to the sales talk of the red shirted brigade but didn't read the fine print on the subscription form. So he's wrong when he says ToI delivers copies at the doorstep; they don't.

And he expects us to believe he pays Rs50 for delivery charges...? Come on, lad, what do you think? That your fellow journalists are as stupid as you are?

And for his information (since he may not be able to read them), the classifieds and the appointment ads on ToI are from outside Goa, so he had best apply for them and take a job in Mumbai, Bangalore or Jhumri Talaiya.

21 May 2008 at 14:45  

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