As I sit on the porch of the old house in the historic city of Charleston, where we are holidaying I sip my coffee and sniff the morning air. It is crisp, fresh and highly invigorating. Even though temperatures here do dip to below 0 the air only becomes more…
Cashing the Confidence Cheque..!
Many years ago I worked as a salesman in my dad’s company and have always been glad for that experience, especially stuff my father taught me. Ever so often I would hit a rough patch when for days I would trudge the roads and not bag a single order. “Take…
Befriending a Bully..!
Not just you and me but big and small nations burn their national fingers trying to befriend a bully! Over fifty years ago, President Nixon, quite a crafty man, and not just because of his Pinocchio nose, decided on something called ‘ping-pong diplomacy’ with a growing China. Today as China…
Broken People Round the Manger..!
Towards Christmas, in all shopping centres, malls, housing societies, church compounds and homes, little mangers are made and plastic or wooden figures of Joseph, Mary and the little Jesus are installed. Since it’s a manger, also seen are cows, goats and even a horse or two. It was towards midnight…
Santa, beside the Still Waters..!
Santa Clauses, decorations and Christmas trees! All lit and ablaze! Santas in every mall, striding down streets, and Christmas trees, set up, lighting the sky and ground below! Such excitement! Every store screams ‘Christmas Sale’ with discounts as shop window seductively beckons you in! They told me Christmas in New…
Miss Universe Throws a Boulder..!
As Harnaz Sandhu, with self-assurance and assertiveness, strong voice and spirited speech swept the Miss Universe title, she threw a message, not a bouquet of flowers to a waiting, receptive audience, but a boulder into the midst of the startled men of India! ‘I am not a wallflower, just a…
Fear Is The Key..!
There are no cockroaches in Manhattan, where I am at the moment, at least they are not as visible or apparent as they are back home, but here, nearly every train, subway or metro, bus and even taxis carry a message about how the cockroach is lurking, waiting, behind sinks,…
Drinkers Reservation Quota..!
With most parties running out of election strategies, I’m sure many will go in for the women vote promising prohibition. Drinkers have started feeling a little insecure! “We are forming a national political party!” said the town drunk, as he stood at my doorstep and handed me a leaflet, “and…
Political Leaders and Spicy Food..!
Ever so often, a common picture opportunity is when a political leader drops into the house of some poor person and has a meal with him or her. As the Prime Minister launched the Kashi Vishvanath Corridor Project, he supped with construction workers and I wonder whether he asked the…
Not Decorations on a Wall..!
It was a strange sound I heard from the trees the other day, and there through the branches saw stuck a coloured paper kite, along with taut string stretching and un-stretching and pulling the helpless kite that was stuck. I peered further and saw a half a dozen more. “Poor…
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.