Leaving My Personal Oz

The closure of EWN was a reminder, nothing lasts forever.

Putting out EWN was hard work, but it was also a bit of a party, especially for Bob and Rob who went on whirlwind road shows. Publishers and advertisers were throwing money into the race for global markets. On one trip, Bob and Rob canceled an Air France flight that CMP booked from Paris to Tokyo. Instead, they opted for the adventure of flying on the Soviet Union’s Aeroflot airline.  

Apparently, CMP’s president, Mike Leeds, heard about the switch from EWN’s publisher, Peggy Conlon, who was flying with the rest of the roadshow on Air France. Leeds blew up and ordered Bob and Rob to get off the Russian airline and rebook on Air France. They did, but wound up in economy class in center seats.

“You can imagine how much smoking there was in economy on a French airline going to Tokyo,” Rob said.

Out of some mix of kindness and fear Bob might cause a scene, Peggy let Bob take her seat in business class.

“In some ways, it was a magical time with trips like that one. I knew I wouldn’t see it again,” Rob recalled.

My magical time in Hong Kong was about to end, too. EE Times had decided it didn’t need a bureau there. Instead, one of its publishers had an idea for a new magazine based at the CMP headquarters in Long Island that, among other things, might scoop up some of the EWN business otherwise left on the table.

A former tech reporter-turned-publisher, Girish Mhatre comported himself more like an undercover CIA agent. A self-proclaimed “ideas man,” Girish enjoyed ruminating on techno-business strategies in hushed tones, often over a scotch in an upscale hotel bar or restaurant. He'd recount tales of revealing or embarrassing moments with top execs at AMD, Intel and Samsung or drunken nights with fellow publishers. Then, he’d shift gears again and describe a personal philosophy that was a heady mix of his native Hinduism and notions borrowed from quantum mechanics.

Girish Mhatre in 2013

His latest brainchild was OEM Magazine. It would give the electronics industry a 30,000-foot view for anyone interested in the next big thing. He sold the concept to CMP management and was looking for an editor. As the only reporter in a bureau about to be shuttered, I was a natural candidate. So, Girsh stopped by Hong Kong on an Asia tour and over lunch laid out his ideas for the readership, the editorial and my role in it.

Once again, I was more than a bit over my head, but I loved the idea of being courted for something new. And I was completely taken in by the sophisticated matrix of smoke and mirrors Girish deployed around him. He was, in a way, a Steve Jobs of publishing who could roll out concepts and anecdotes to create a kind of reality-distortion field that could make advertisers sign contracts and young reporters leave comfy posts.

Frankly, I would have stayed in Hong Kong for the rest of my life. But my in-laws had decided to return the U.S., my wife wanted to be near them and our two kids were ready for public school. In another nudge toward America, our landlord, Kwong Ng, had sold the old building we lived in so it could be redeveloped into a modern upscale complex. 

It didn’t take long to accept Girish’s generous offer of a trip back to the States and a bonus to help put a down payment on our first house. Even better, Girish became a mentor who showed me how to polish my writing by weaving insights about people and companies into stories about what they were doing.

Girish was a connoisseur of good stories and scotch. His bete noir was anything he called “bush league.”  So, it was time to up my game.

Before I left, I took a day off to hike Lantau Peak, a favorite trail on an island being redeveloped for a larger and much-needed airport. I remember standing at that peak a long time, and with wet eyes looking out to the distant jewel of a city I had the privilege to call home, promising myself to return some day.

By the spring of 1993, when I left Hong Kong, the Saturday job section of the SCMP was a fraction of the size it had been in June 1988. The few interesting jobs required applicants be fluent in Mandarin. But the tragic part of the story came after the handover: China clamped down on free speech and stomped out the few sprouts of democracy the British had in their final years hastily tried to plant.

In an email exchange, Valdis, now active in local politics in his native Australia, reflected on the changes:

“We experienced a unique short window of opportunity for us gweilos,” a Cantonese slang for foreign devils.

“I was also there when the big student protests started and happened to be back about a year later in the final days as the police cleared away the last protestors and barricades.  So much passion and hope in the beginning -- and anger at being teargassed by their own police -- and then despair that almost a year of peaceful protests achieved nothing. 

“Hong Kong’s glory days are gone and as the former prime minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, said decades ago ‘Hong Kong will become just another Chinese city’ but with a sense of defeat added in.”

Coming in late 2026: “Season Three: My Life and Times at EE Times”

Also see my inaugural post: "Retirement Day: I Begin a New Journey by Looking Backwards"

One last hike on Lantau Island