Telling stories that mattered

There are men who write history, and there are those who quietly correct it. T.J.S. George belonged to the second kind - sharp, subtle, and serenely fearless. His life was not just about journalism; it was about the joy of knowing, of thinking, and of telling stories that mattered.

- BY SANTHOSH MATHEW

He wrote not for fame or fortune, but for the sheer love of truth dressed in elegance. T.J.S. George is not a name one can utter casually. It is a legacy, a school, a style. Every one of his books is a manual for young journalists; every column is a mirror held to power and pretence.

The biography of India's most brilliant political journalist Pothen Joseph remains a monument to his craft, while his own Gh shay tra stands as an autobiography without the self peopled not by family but by friends, mentors, and unforgettable newsroom characters. The newsroom of The Free Press Journal in Bombay was his stage, and what a theatre it was! There, amid the clatter of typewriters and the smell of burnt cigarettes, George found his characters and his convictions. He once recalled a moment that still resonates across generations of journalists: a young, flamboyant reporter named Agnel struts back to the desk after tea, cigarette in hand, humming a tune. Someone behind him lets out a peculiar laugh.

When he turns around, a senior remarks, "You're paid for the work you do. I'm paid for what I know." George called it a timeless truth and rightly so. For him, journalism was never about effort alone; it was about the mind behind the effort. A journalist without knowledge, he often said, is like a surgeon without anatomy. That blend of wit and wisdom also coloured the pages of The Story of Pothen Joseph. In one scene, the grand old editor looks at a trembling trainee and says with affectionate firmness: "I can teach you journalism, my boy, but I cannot teach you the alphabet."