Afternoon no more

The 22-year-old Afternoon Despatch and Courier, once a Bombay institution, suspended publication in September 2007 when Kamal Morarka, chairman, dismissed Farzana Contractor from the post of CEO (chief executive officer). Contractor, wife of charismatic founder editor, the late Beh­ram, stormed Afternoon House building, near Flora Fountain, with a band of supporters on the morning of September 25, 2007 and locked herself up in the building, reported the Hindustan Times (HT) of September 28, 2007. She explained her stand in an impassioned article on the front page of the Afternoon’s edition dated September 26, 2007. The next day Morarka issued a notice in The Times of India announcing that Contractor was no longer associated with the paper. He did not publish the paper either.

Behram Contractor: charismatic editor

The suspension and possible cessation of the daily has also deprived the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) of its fortnightly medium to spread its message to around 7,000 community members. The WAPIZ Page in the Afternoon appeared on alternate Thursdays and later on Fridays when copies of the newspaper would be distributed free of cost to different Parsi colonies.

The Afternoon was set up in 1985 by Behram Contractor. Better known as Busybee, he was widely read for his Round and About column which appeared daily on the last page. Morarka gives Behram full credit for the newspaper and claimed it went downhill after his death in 2001. Morarka maintains that Farzana Contractor was not devoting enough time to the newspaper but was pouring her energy into Upper Crust, a quarterly food magazine she edits. He also said that she is a neophyte in matters legal and financial.

Agreeing that the paper has gone to seed, Contractor ripostes that Morarka gave the paper little support after Behram died. She claims that Morarka had no right to dismiss her, having done little to help run the paper for most of its existence. "The building (Afternoon House) was a chawl when I acquired it. It is a tragic day in the paper’s history that it should be suspended in this ugly battle,” she told HT. According to her, Morarka loaned her husband money to start the newspaper, but they had paid it all back within two years. So they were later shocked to discover that they were just minority shareholders, Contractor informed HT. They then initiated a discussion with Morarka on the issue, but Behram died before the matter could be sorted out, she said.

Morarka says he will see Contractor in court. "Let the law decide who has a leg to stand on,” he informed HT.