This morning I watched him wish me with a Namaste! I have always been fascinated by this simple greeting, but today looked closer and found it very touching. There was something warm and meaningful in his gesture. He was actually touching his heart with the end of his folded hands….
Fancy Glasses But Not For Me..!
This happened a few years ago: My driver was a little confused that morning, “Sir, but why are you insisting on your old glasses?” I could well understand his being puzzled: It had been a day of problems I had gone through the day before, and in a moment of…
Dead Tree Outside My Window..!
It’s not that there was a storm that night, just a bit of a strong breeze, but I was puzzled when I saw lots of sky the next day outside my window and then realized that a tree outside had vanished. For a moment I was shocked. You would have…
Are You Watching Your Child Protesting?
Goons enter the JNU college. They thrash professors and students. The Union President, a girl, Aishe Ghoshe is beaten on the head with iron rods, thrown to the ground, kicked, punched, bleeding and badly injured is admitted to hospital where she receives sixteen stitches on her bloodied head! Next day,…
News You Won’t Believe..!
One of the tabloids some time ago had most of its first page blank; boxed in the middle in small font was the grim and distressing news that ‘Today’s news is being withheld as India is under attack from the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and an elite squadron of handpicked warriors from…
Leave the Familiar..!
On my last visit to Chicago while walking through a college campus, I was pleasantly surprised to see a museum piece in the compound. It was an ancient wagon, the type the first settlers in America used, when they crossed the continent with their families to settle on land thousands…
Love Your Dog, Love the World..!
This morning as I walked Jeff, my now old German –Shepherd dog, a new neighbor, looked at it with a grimace on her face and to such people do I address today’s piece: I had been to my childhood home a few years back: A friend who came along, watched…
Learning to Lose Gracefully..!
Many of my close friends, are going to say, “Bob, we know times, when you’ve lost and were quite a bad loser!” Very true. I hate losing but something, I and many of us have to learn is how to lose gracefully! It’s a pretty competitive world today, but the…
The ‘Good Morning’ Housing Society..!
In a fictitious housing society very close to where I live, many sounds come out of the complex: Harsh words, screams, fists connecting with fists, connecting with shin and groin, and four letter expletives that shock the residents of other colonies who live nearby. But it was not always so….
Your Speaking Room..!
I lay in my bed, tears flowing down my cheeks, “Speak to me God!” I whispered. “Look around Bob!” said a voice in my head, “Your room speaks in words loud and clear! Look up at your ceiling!” I cleared my eyes looked at my ceiling and from its loftiness…
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.