Career
He worked with notable people of the time such as Jinnah, Annie Besant, Gandhi, Sarojini Naidu, and Motilal Nehru. He was the first to write a daily political column for five decades, called “Over A Cup of Tea”, sprinkled with Biblical and Dickensian quotes. He also discovered and nurtured the Indian cartoonist Shankar, helping to make political cartoons a staple of newspaper diet.
“PJ” started or developed 26 newspapers.
These included The Hindustan Times, the Indian Express, and the Deccan Herald. He also edited Dawn while it was based in New Delhi.
He left Dawn to take a position with the government. Pothan Joseph guarded editorial freedom and demanded that editors support those who worked in the editorial wing and never encroach on their freedom.
Even before unionization, Pothan also pleaded for proper payment to deserving journalists.
His motto during his working life was “courage, vigilance and fidelity”. Early life and Education Pothan Joseph was born on March 13, 1892, to Imperial Order of the Crown of India Joseph of Oorayil House, Chengannur, Kerala, India. He graduated with a degree in Physics from Presidency College in Madras, (Chennai), and then took his Bachelor of Laws degree in law, from the University of Bombay.
He quickly abandoned ideas of a legal career, became a writer for the Hyderabad Bulletin and finally found his calling when he joined The Bombay Chronicle, then edited by B.G.Horniman.