Veteran journalist Russy Karanjia passed away at his Churchgate residence here on Friday morning. He was 95.“He was just down with fever because of the cold. He died in his sleep,” said his niece, Virginia Rai, who also worked as a journalist in Karanjia's now-defunct tabloid Blitz, which he had launched in the 1940s. Karanjia also ran The Daily, a tabloid morninger. Both, The Daily and Blitz, had to be shut owing to various difficulties.His daughter, Rita Mehta, was away in Dubai at the time of his death. Mehta and her husband Carl arrived in Mumbai late in the evening.At Karanjia's Framrose Court residence in South Mumbai, relatives and a few friends gathered in the afternoon.V Gangadhar, who was a columnist with Blitz for several years, recollected his association with the editor. “I worked as a syndicated columnist in the weekly tabloid Blitz for a column, Topsy Turvy, for 15 years. He always encouraged me to write bold columns, a complete opposite of other editors of those times, since many did not accept satire,” he added.Calling Karanjia a “human journalist” as opposed to an intellectual one, Gangadhar said he believed in constant change. “He was prepared to do anything new, untested. Even though he was accused of yellow journalism, he exposed many scandals,” he said.Gangadhar recounted an anecdote from a couple of decades ago. “He strongly believed in yoga. When a yogi walked into his office and claimed he could walk on water, Russi without fearing about the goodwill of the paper encouraged the yogi and put up a banner of Blitz at the event. After two steps on the water, the yogi sank. That is Karanjia for you. He was not worried about reputation, he laughed out loud with those present at the event. But one thing was clear — this man had the guts to try something new.” A supporter of non-alignment, at a time when various editors interviewed first world leaders, Karanjia travelled all over the world interviewing leaders from Vietnam, Egypt and Cuba.“He was an aristocrat by birth but believed in Marxism. he was never an ivory tower editor — his room was always open for people,” said Gangadhar.
