This happened many years ago! The skies were dark and a heavy cloud hung over us as we drove on roads that echoed the darkness above. We were two writers in the car, my friend, whose first book published by a renowned publisher, which had been a runaway success, was…
You Cannot Escape Competition..!
Many believe that competition is bad, that life is meant to be peaceful and calm, sitting on a mountain, or playing golf! Gary Player for years was a great competitor in national and international golf tournaments. People constantly said to him, “I’d give anything if I could hit a golf…
Aunty Toto’s Positive Energy..!
Aunty Toto was not her real name. Her name was Mrs. Dubey, and she had every kind of problem that you could think of, resting on her shoulders. Her husband had left her, her children had married wrong, her grandchildren were a source of worry and finally she found that…
Politician Down a Hole..!
Quite often I hear of children tragically falling into a deep borewell! I mischievously wonder what would happen if a politician falls into a deep hole: “There’s somebody fallen into the hole?” shouts the politician’s PA to the TV station. “Who?” “A minister!” “Oh! Let him be, we have other events to…
Eight Dollar Days..!
It wasn’t too long ago that scowls and frowns greeted me when I entered a store abroad: Salesman at counter, shop owner and all the customers lifting their heads none too discretely, knew I’d come in just to browse, look at stuff, touch, sigh at price, maybe even venture to…
When You Are Questioned..!
“I have many questions,” she said as she sat in my car. It was raining heavily, and I had offered to drop her home. “Bob,” she said, “I read what you write, but I can’t subscribe to all your beliefs!” It was a long car journey as the rains beat…
Think and Grow Rich..!
“Today our youth are so focused!” said a father of one of the youth to me proudly. “Focused on what?” I asked. “On what they want to do in life! How much money they want to make, and where they want to reach!” said the father looking at his son…
Weeping In the Neighbour’s House..!
The wife told me we had to visit the neighbors this morning. She said we should take a box of sweets along with us. “Whatever for?” I asked, “are they moving out?” “Their daughter passed her SSC. It is a big occasion for them. Wear your suit!” “Suit?” I asked,…
No Need for Men..!
A few years ago, a scientist, Paul de Sousa of Edinburgh University announced at the BA Science Festival in Dublin that his team had succeeded in creating ‘virgin embryos’, or parthenotes, by stimulating a human egg to start dividing like an embryo without the addition of any genetic material from…
Mahabalipuram and Room Service..!
A moneyed friend of mine had just come back from a holiday he’d spent at Mahabalipuram, the temple town a few kilometres from Chennai. Since I’d been there a few times, I’d told him about the carvings, the sculptures and the temples, and was quite eager to hear his own…
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.