India watches shocked, as a powerful tyrant uses muscle, might, and maximum force to pulverize and bully a smaller country. Even as we are appalled, outraged and horrified, even as we look across the ocean at the UN and expect that supposedly mighty institution representing the world to put an…
A New Creature..!
Ever so often I come across someone grieving, and I try to comfort them with this small story: In a quiet pond lived a little colony of water creatures. They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun, busy, scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of…
The ‘What-Next’ Leaders..!
Just one bullet! An assassination of an archduke, and the first world war began! Millions died on battlefields. It was a war which led to the next world war, where not just the battlefields, but gas chambers smelt of charred, burnt human flesh! Today, a stunned world looks at a…
Rewriting History..!
Each successive government rewrites history, the way an author revises his books. “Look at this,” says a minister in my imagination, thumbing through a book of history, “it says the English built the railways in India!” “Nonsense!” says another minister, “Change that to 2014!” And so history is rewritten! Which…
Just a Little Nudge..!
Just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary a few days ago, which brought back memories of days when I struggled to build my business, and quite often complained to my new bride about the tough day I’d had. I guess she also as a resident doctor was going through her difficult…
Thankful, With a Grateful Heart..!
“How are you Bob?” asked a friend, and before he could say Jack Robinson, or it’s Asian equivalent I had poured out my complaints to him, and then he reminded me of a story I’d written about before and which I’m going to bring back today: A man raced down…
Choosing Good Friends..!
In my book, ‘DARE’ I have a chapter, ‘Dare to Make and Keep Friends’, but thought that today we could talk about choosing friends! As the old adage says, “A Man is known by the company he keeps” and so it is prudent to choose your friends wisely. Nearly twenty-…
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict..!
Have just finished writing a play for an Australian company on the Israeli-Palestinian skirmish, and through the script have offered a solution to the same. But even as I wait for it’s production and performance and hopefully that it will be converted into a serial, I decided to write on…
Don’t Let Them Free..!
“It can’t be done!” “It can! And it will be done!” I insisted looking at the contractor, while sadly staring at the terrace he’d messed up with shoddy workmanship, “And till it’s done, we hold your payment!” I listened, as his shrill voice reached a crescendo, and threats rang out….
Don’t Smile at the Air-hostess..!
As countries open up and we Asians start flying again, I thought it imperative to write this little piece, which I also recommend you take with a pinch of salt, though there is some truth in it. Most International Airlines think Asians are suicide bombers and feel we have nothing…
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.