Allen J. Mendonca passed away

Allen J. Mendonca, the former Indian Express and Times of India journalist, passed away in Bangalore on Monday. He is survived by his wife Sandhya Mendonca and their son, Aditya.
Allen, the son of a Reserve Bank of India employee, was an old-school journalist for whom no beat, no story was taboo. Starting out at Bangalore’s legendary tabloid City Tab(launched and run by the Tharakan couple), he went on to cover crime, politics, information technology; composed jingles for television; acted in plays; wrote movie reviews; composed and sang music; and played the guitar.
He even starred in the  national award film, Stumble, directed by former Indian Express colleague Prakash Belavadi.
At a 2002 lecture at the Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media in Bangalore, Allen said:

“Journalism of courage has given way to a journalism of consensus…. Although there are some world-class writers in our country, there are very few world-class journalists.”

In 2003, Allen co-founded Raintree Media, a communications and media business process outsourcing outfit with offices in Kuala Lumpur, Port St Louis, and Bangalore.
Last night, he went home after a party and did not wake up this moning.