As my younger one celebrates her birthday today, I’m going to reproduce an article of mine on her that was published many years back in the Indian Express: She had got up twice during the night I heard later, hoping to catch the tooth fairy at work. The next morning…
Punctured Lifeboats..!
Filled with horror I read about the twenty-seven ONGC employees who died and fifty-three missing, when their barge sank during Cyclone Tauktae’s tryst with the west coast of India. The barge, as you know, is the sleeping dormitory for the employees of the rig, and has no engine. It’s only…
My Bank Balance and I.!
It’s generally after an event, a wedding or some other occasion like a lavish holiday when I realize I’m nearly broke and my driver comes back from the bank with my passbook. I open it with fear and trembling and rightly so, because it is not what I expected it…
Broken Branch..!
The cyclone has just passed and as I looked down, I saw the broken branch, “Oh that’s so sad!” I shouted, “It must have happened with winds over 120 kms an hour!” “The winds were terrible!” agreed the broken branch, “and that’s when I made my decision!” “What decision?” I…
Death Rage and the Doc..!
Maybe it’s the fact that in the middle of the cyclone today, my wife a doctor, had to rush to the hospital to save a life that makes me write about ‘Death rage’ today We have all seen or experienced this feeling at some time or another. Death rage: When…
Living Like Men..!
As science progresses, men are slowly becoming a worried lot as they find women are slowly not going to need them anymore and could one day become pregnant even without their help. “Human embryos without fathers, what’s to become of us?” asked a bespectacled fellow emptying his glass with one…
Mary’s True Peace..!
‘Oh Mary! Mother of Jesus!’ I said as I stood in front of her, And suddenly in the painting, I felt the Mother stir. ‘What is it dear child?’ she looked at me and said, ‘What question is it that I see, rankling in your head?’ ‘Mary Mother of God,’…
Second Dose of Milk-Powder..!
In a little village somewhere in the country, the village headman and the assistant headman listened to the huge commotion outside their hut, “The people are angry,” whispered the assistant headman, “They want milk powder for their sickness!” “But I gave them one spoon of milk powder!” said the headman….
Shut Up, When Others Grieve..!
The other day I called someone who had lost her husband. After a while I held the phone in silence and let her cry. One of the silliest things I have seen at a funeral is someone going across to the bereaved party, holding his or her hand and telling…
Cheap Car, Cheap Vaccine..!
In our country we love to pay little and get much. The mechanic who repairs my car knows this and was at my house this morning and led me to his own garage: “I have made the cheapest car in the world!” he said proudly. “No, no,” I told him…
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.