In my very vivid imagination, I saw the wife bouncing into my study, “There’s some government officials to see you!” she said. I wandered into my sitting room, and watched as the two men rose and extended their hands in my direction, “We are honoured to have you on board…
Freedom to Scratch..!
The heat has suddenly become worse in the city but worse than we humans, its animals who suffer most. But my dog prefers the heat than coming into my air-conditioned room from where I write. Not that he isn’t reacting to the heat, he is. I know he finds it…
DARE Make the Impossible, Possible..!
This isn’t from my book DARE but could well be one of the chapters of DARE TWO! Many times I meet people who tell me why something can’t be done. When given a suggestion, they make a list of problems, and tell you it’s a good idea, but it’s not…
Nobody Saw Him Fall..!
He fell! He hadn’t seen the paver block sticking out, uneven, arrogant, catching his worn out, treadles soles and throwing him forward with a lurch. He lay quietly, waiting for arms he knew would come to help him up. But there were none. He thought of friends, men and women…
No Gold On Valentine’s Day..!
The price of gold’s gone up, the cost of diamonds too So what do I get my beloved wife, what is it I should do? I dare not get her clothes, they don’t seem to fit she says I dare not get her gifts, they’re expensive these days. So what…
Selling Your Soul to the Devil.!
There are many who sell their soul! They sell pure thoughts, their honesty, their beliefs in exchange for a favour, which reminds me of the legendary Dr Faust who in Goethe’s classic, sold his soul to the devil: Faust is bored and depressed with his life as a scholar. After…
We Lost Delhi..!
And as he stood at the border, making faces and shouting slogans at the man across who was busy, not playing cricket, but minding his country, he heard a voice behind, “Come back, we’ve lost Delhi!” “What? Impossible! I have been standing here and shouting and threatening that ex cricketer…
Mr ‘Six Missed Balls’..!
It was the funniest scene in cricket I’d seen in a long time: A batsman swinging his bat and missing all six balls bowled to him! No it was not the IPL, nor a Ranji Trophy match, but a tournament in a housing colony where cricket had become the bonding…
Shortcuts..!
A few years ago, a missing Air India Dreamliner belly piece was found lying on the runway! One hundred and fifty passengers nearly faced death because of the sheer callous, negligent and reckless attitude of an engineer of the national airline, who, the newspapers say, instead of fastening the ‘belly…
The ‘Busy’ Organiser..!
It was during a talk I was giving, when halfway through, I saw the eyes of the whole audience move to the side of the hall. I looked and saw two priests in their white cassocks walking across. Immediately the organizers, followed by a retinue of other office bearers got…
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.