The peepul tree that towers over my house and garden had been shedding its leaves with a reckless abandon only nature can afford. For days, I watched, sipping my morning coffee, as the once-proud canopy thinned into a gaunt skeleton, each bare branch waving forlornly in the breeze. It was…
Robert Clements is a journalist and newspaper columnist. With an estimated 6 million readership, his column, Bob’s Banter is published in over 30 newspapers and magazines in nearly every state in India, as well as in the top newspapers of Bangladesh, London and Dubai and is also translated into Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.
Heroes in Uniform or Just Uniforms?
We’re brought up on Hollywood movies showing brave firemen sliding down poles, racing to their gleaming engines, sirens wailing, and gallantly charging into burning buildings to rescue helpless kittens and terrified tenants. And here in Mumbai? Ah, dream on, my friend, dream on! Yesterday, a fire broke out in a…
Living their Judgement Day..!
There was a time, not so long ago, when you could walk into a church and feel the brush of angel wings against your shoulder. Today, more often than not, you’re lucky if you don’t feel the shove of a Bishop elbowing you aside as he clambers to hang onto…
The Whistle of a Bullet..!
So, this morning while sipping my sugarless coffee (doctor’s orders; doctor being my wife), I kept reading all the horror that has just happened leaving twenty- six dead. And of course, the usual statements from leaders saying “We strongly condemn…” Yes, that’s terrorism. Loud, brutal, explosive. Makes the news anchor’s…
Why Terrorists Use Terror..!
It was a gentle morning, the kind where birds sang despite traffic, and the chaiwalla smiled despite inflation. And then—boom! Not just the sound of a bomb, but the shattering of peace, the unraveling of normalcy, and the beginning of what the terrorist truly wanted: fear, division, and a society…
Climb to Clean, Says the Late Pope..!
The white cassock now lies still. The shepherd’s staff rests. And the world, Catholic or not, pauses to mourn a man who quietly shook empires—Pope Francis. He didn’t roar like a lion. He whispered like a sage. But those whispers reached corners that centuries of sermons never did. As tributes…
The Khaki and Khadi Dance..!
The headline that day screamed across the newspaper and smacked me harder than any police lathi ever could: “Inspector Tukaram Kurundkar had been awarded the President’s Medal.” A fine achievement, you’d say—until you read the fine print. The man was under suspension. For murder. Not of a stranger in an…
Strengthen Them or Watch Them Crumble..!
It’s becoming an almost daily occurrence now—the news of another young person, full of potential, choosing to end their life. Not long ago, I sat across from a friend of mine, a respected psychiatrist, and asked him, “Why is this happening so often?” “Bob,” he said, “when we were growing…
Is Your Life Worth Keeping?
The Reader’s Digest had a story that’s stayed on my mind. Not because it was dramatic, or tear-jerking, or filled with grand revelations, but because it was simple, painfully true, and quietly powerful. It was about a man who was tired of his job. Tired of the routine, the pressure, the monotony….
If Jesus Hadn’t Risen…!
Imagine the scene: A dusty Jerusalem morning, the day after the crucifixion. The city, still buzzing from the spectacle of the execution, moves on. The Roman soldiers, having played their part, head back to their barracks with a few extra coins in their pockets. The Pharisees, smug in their victory,…
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.