Mercifully, the strident calls to *Cristaos* versus the laced bogey of *saffronisation* have been toned down in today's Stray Thoughts at www.rajannarayan.com. It appears that my repeated focusing on the dangerous stuff that was let loose by Rajan Narayan to drum up financial and reader support for his Independent Goan Observer (IGO), has had some sobering effect.
Maybe, we need to remind Rajan just once in a way that not all Goan *Cristaos* are DK (Dukhor Khaire) :-) Rajan has, of course, characteristically and without admitting, taken immense benefit of my critiques on the IGO. The *wholly owned by the readers* claim, is replaced with, *the company will be owned by the people* (which obviously ought to be the case - stray dogs n cattle cannot own a company or a newspaper.) The *Board of Trustees* canard has been knocked off (remember why I said the word *Trustees* was intentionally introduced!) and replaced with a more mundane Board of Directors *comprising eminent persons with unflinching (not flinching) commitment to secularism* Just BTW, it may be noted that who decides what kind of persons comprise the Board of Directors are the shareholders at a company's AGM (Annual General Body) meeting. Directors cannot be pre-ordained, however good or otherwise the initial Promoter's intentions. (Take a cue from that, Rajan, and don't stupidly go about making announcements that you must quietly withdraw later, as done post-Oct 5, after reading this *Sage and Rishi*) As far as the readers of IGO are concerned, well, they are not entirely forgotten in Rajan's scheme. Though the readers will NOT now *wholly own* the IGO, the new line reads: *... a newspaper which will be accountable only to you, the readers* As to how that can possibly be achieved has not been disclosed. If you plan to read the IGO, go figure out how or in what manner you will be able to make it accountable to you...!! Rajan has announced a plethora of incentives to those putting their money into the venture. These are best left to the intelligence and judgment of the potential investor and, so long as his marketing gimmicks do not border on the dangerous (for Goa, e.g. communal passions) or are plain illegal (e.g. Board of Trustees), I shall refrain from making any comment - lest I receive another barrage of private mail accusing me of being *after* Rajan (pls see my accompanying post, IGO: facts & issues, not persons.) Only that I can't help but point out that though a number of new services have now been added to what is essentially a newspaper venture, viz.- *career guidance and consumer guidance cells, comprehensive services of our corporate services division at highly subsidized rates, printing or production of video CDs or the planned Insight series of (Tourist) guides,* Rajan seems to have shied away - after I pointed this out - from the idea of peddling influence or consultancy in property matters... Recall my (snide?) suggestion that he open a Land Conversion/Real Estate agency instead... TAILPIECE: Last Sunday, Rajan tried to assuage my suspicions of an event that occurred 20 years ago, with a tail-end fable about worms and butterflies. This time round, he opens his Strays thus: *SOME SAGES and rishis on the Internet have been claiming that it is not the public who will own the company. But Rajan Narayan. (BTW, I have never suggested that *public* cannot own the company, or that Rajan himself will own it. What I pointed out is that READERS cannot *wholly own* the IGO.) I will not be surprised if, the next time round, Rajan dubs me (a Sage and Rishi only in name) the PRO of Parrikar, BJP, Hindutva, VHP and the Bajrang Dal combine :-) Regards/Valmiki ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
