In keeping with the image of Goa being a land of laid-back lotus eaters, the NT staffers were under no pressure to perform.

The bar and the building belonged to the then Mayor of Panjim, an affable man whose employees entertained the NT staffers on credit.

When this issue was raised during a recent journalist debate, Rajan side-stepped it by raising the issue of whether one was a staffer or freelancer while writing for the paper.

Since then, one was at Deccan Herald for the first seven years, a period during which staffers were not officially allowed to write for other publications.

Then too, it is a common trend that newspapers would prefer to send its full-fledged staffers, often from Panjim, instead of relying on part-time rural correspondents, to cover the event.

This is not to suggest that full-fledged staffers have no right to tresspass on the territory of correspondents, as it were.

Rather, a staffer would benefit a great deal by utilising the expertise and local knowledge of a rural correspondent to ensure an effective story.

To cite an example, a staffer was recently asked to interview noted people in connection with a prominent cultural festival in a village.

The staffer was unaware that the same festival is celebrated separately by two groups in the village and, that, the article would need to carry the comments of people from both groups.

Instead of seeking the assistance of a correspondent from the area, the staffer went ahead and interviewed five persons from the village.

Eventually, the staffer realised that four persons interviewed represented one group, while the sole personality interviewed from the other group went on to criticise his own group!

Had the staffer sought the assistence of the local correspondent, the issue would never have been blown out of proportion.

There have been instances to suggest that a news report filed by a staffer has been accorded more prominence both in space and display than a report sent by a rural correspondent.

He once organized a picnic for Herald staffers at Varca, where he sat in one chair throughout the day.