“Eat!” I yell at my German -Shepherd, “Come on eat I’m getting late!” And my dog stares with stubborn look on canine face, which makes me even more furious. I take him by his collar and drag him to his plate, “Finish your food you silly dog!” It just doesn’t…
Letter To A Garage Owner..!
My son-in-law who’s holidaying with my daughter in Goa asked my driver to give his car to the garage so it would be serviced and ready, when they both returned. It reminded me of a time many years ago, when I wrote a letter to a garage owner: Dear Maheshbai,…
Piloting You Above the Clouds..!
I sat in my seat next to the window, in the airbus that was taking me from Bangalore to Bombay the other day, and heard the voice of the pilot over the PA system, “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said, “We will be hitting turbulence for a while, but trust me,…
Sainthood, Self and Service..!
Suddenly its raining saints, with the Pope canonizing five men and women at one go and with India also having Mother Mariam Thresia Mankidiyan recognized as one! But I wonder how these worthy individuals would have reacted if they had known they were being canonized, “Cardinal Henry Newman how do…
Elections, A Slingshot and a Prayer..!
And as the elections for Maharashtra and other states draw near, what I see is an air of despondency among some of the political parties, as they look at a party which has capitalized on winning over the minds of the people using, according to them, questionable methods. Looking at…
Joining Mr Kapoor On the Terrace..!
As maids and domestic help get scarce and expensive, it won’t be long before what my imagination just conjured up soon becomes reality: I looked up to see the wife trudging across the living room with a bucket of clothes to be washed “Hey!” I asked “Where’s the maid?” “She…
Abhijeet Banerjee and Tihar Jail..!
“He is fearless in expressing his opinions..” Nirmala Banerjee, Abhijeet’s mother. Did you know Tihar jail was where Nobel Prize winner Abhijeet Banerjee spent ten days of his life? Till now, you must have been under the impression only politicians made a success of their careers after a stint in…
Have Eyes, Can’t See..!
I see Modi looking at the opposition and saying, “Can’t you see I’ve done a good thing in Kashmir?” and the opposition replying, “Can’t you see you’ve done a bad thing for democracy?” And both accusing the other of having eyes, but not seeing! A woman took her 14-year-old daughter…
Pickpockets..!
Wrote this while in college, and remember my mother typing it out for me for my college mag. Fished it out, and while reading it, find that nothing’s changed: He was being chased by a mob. He jumped from platform three to platform four just as a train came in,…
Torn Pants, Torn Hands..!
It lay fallen a little distance from the clothesline that held my clothes. I walked over and looked at it, they were certainly not mine; gaping holes stared back at me, and these were not the tears carefully made by a tailor, as many modern pants have, but those that…
Robert Clements is a newspaper columnist and writes a daily column, which has graced the pages of over 60 newspapers and magazines, from a daily column in the Khaleej Times, Dubai, the Morning Star, London, and in nearly every state in India, from The Statesman in Kolkata, to the Kashmir Times in Kashmir to the Trinity Mirror in Chennai.