Ah dear reader, let me refresh your memory. Now sit yourself down and let me tell you Aesop’s fable of the hare and the tortoise! Once upon a time Bro Hare was making fun of Bro Tortoise for being so slow. “Do you ever get anywhere?” he asked with a…
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.
The Chapati Lady and Dogs..!
They called her the chapati lady! She walked in the park, and as she strolled along, she threw warm, tender chapatis to the stray dogs who waited for her each morning. The strays loved her. They waited for her and for the mouthfuls of love they fed on each morning….
Bottled Coconut Water..!
Very lately at around eleven in the morning, which is an hour or more after breakfast, and two hours before lunch, I’ve been having a small bottle of coconut water. This was once the time when I had my second cup of tea, but I stopped that, then started having…
Local Trains, Self-Pity and Snow Storms..!
Many years ago while reading the book, Silas Marner by George Eliot, I remember the way one of the characters, Molly dies in a snow storm. She trudges through the falling snow and finding it increasingly difficult to walk, stumbles, falls, then takes the last bit of opium she carries…
Looking Way Ahead..!
Was sipping tea in the back seat of my car last week, when my driver, a replacement for my chap who had gone on leave, suddenly braked, throwing scalding hot tea from my glass all over me, “Sorry sir,” he said as he looked in the rear view mirror. I…
Make Another Dream Come True..!
Here’s something for all of you who strive to build a career or branch off into business to read the book, “The Other Side of Me”by Sidney Sheldon. In those pages you will see how hard work, persistence and discipline pay off. You will see a boy wanting to commit…
Outstanding Christians..!
The couple stood outside their church as the Sunday mass was celebrated inside. They smiled and frowned, then smiled and frowned again, as they looked at their respective phones. They messaged back, sent pictures, then stared at each other, looked away. They did not see the lone man standing just…
A Marathon Called Life ..!
A few years ago I witnessed the New York City marathon. I heard there were fifty-one thousand participants this year and am sure nearly half of New York was out cheering them as they ran. There was a loud shout as the first runners came into view. The crowd went…
ChatGPT, Chanakya and Compassion..!
They were exceptionally good skits, all done using ChatGPT! I watched the actors working on their dialogues and noticed their lines were all geared towards solving addiction problems. ChatGPT had done an excellent job of giving solutions through clever discourse and rational thought, but as I continued watching, I noticed…
Scratches, Bruises and a Jawa..!
What I had in my youth was a burning passion for bikes, and what mechanics latched onto those days were people like me, who knew nothing about these mean machines, except being dazzled by the external spit and polish. And so, one day there I was saddled with an old…
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.