Many years back while in business for my father, an interior designer, we would get a contract for the home of the managing director or chairman of a big company. Now in all probability I had already visited him in his office and seen him as a powerful person, but…
Balancing Excitement with the Ordinary..!
Something I love to nibble on are cashew nuts! My children and my wife know I love the dry fruit and every once in a while, present me a packet of the same, and for me it is like heaven that day before I finish them all off. I relish…
Speak the World’s Language..!
It may come as a surprise to many, as some leaders clamour for a national language, that both the US and also the UK have no national language. In fact, until the 19th century, the English language was not seen as a unifying force in the UK, as majorities in…
Praying for Others..!
“Bob, do you know the difference between that man and us?” asked a friend as we sat listening to a great man of God, “When we pray we pray for ourselves and our families, but when he does, his prayers are for others!” A voyaging ship was wrecked during a…
Just A Pair of Glasses..!
My friend, an orthopedic surgeon, was insistent. “Bob,” he said, “I need your help. My old clinic’s gotten too small. Come with me to see this new one. I need ideas!” The new clinic was a ruin. Broken plaster was more on the floor than on the wall. The flooring…
Discarding Necessities..!
Many years ago, while still a bachelor I was invited to the home of a friend who’d just got married. “But you’re just married!” I said, knowing the evening would be more of drinking and loud talk, “You need to spend time with your wife! I’ll visit you when you…
Peegate, and Now in Trains..!
With three distasteful incidents of fellow countrymen peeing on their fellow passengers while flying, I should have been a little more prepared before I ventured on my air travel. The wife was the first to wave me goodbye with just one hand, the other carried a parting gift for me….
Winner or Whiner..!
Had been to Goa for a businessmen’s convention, where I’d been invited as a speaker. The flight was good, but the plane was delayed by over an hour and I reached the hotel that I was being put up by the hosts, quite late and found there was a mix…
Not Sick, but At the Hospital..!
Got up this morning to a very pleasant day, with my peepul tree leaves back, my birds chirping happily, and the coffee almost perfect, when the wife, a doctor, called out, “Busy today?” “Not really!” I said innocent like, not realizing I was walking into a trap, “Finished all my…
The Lock on her Door..!
The lock hangs heavily on her door! It hangs hushed and still, and yet as I look at it, it’s deathly silence screams accusingly, “She’s gone!” I had not wished her goodbye when I’d left for America. I’d meant to, but whenever I passed her home and peeped in, I…
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.