For many years I was able to get the sons and daughters of the poor around my colony, admission in good schools, but I remember once when the principal in charge of the school took me to a classroom, after I’d requested admission for a pump man’s daughter “Look at…
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.
Throwing out the Elderly..!
If you visit many of our old folk’s homes, you will see old men and women kept there, not because they have nowhere else to stay, but because their children threw them out. They either signed their homes over to their children or the children started eyeing the space the…
It’s the Same Powerful You..!
A friend of mine, a big businessman, came to me at a party, “Bob,” he said, “Will you teach me how to speak in public?” “Sure!” I said. “I am a multi-millionaire,” he said, “I make the toughest deals, but when I stand in front of an audience, I am…
Divorce after Decades Together..!
Was rather perplexed to read this morning that more old couples were filing for divorce than ever before, “But why would people in their old age move to end decades of togetherness?” I wondered and walked to the park for my daily rounds. I think my old friend Kumar had…
Jump To The Next Tree..!
As a writer very often I face uncertain times, and have to make decisions regarding my future. Quite often I’ve hesitated, but one story retold by another writer has always helped me make decisions, and not hesitate too much. This is the other writer’s story, through an incident he captured:…
Kachra Hacker..!
The scream came from the bedroom, “Lizard?” I asked casually from the sitting room and found no reply, “Cockroach?” I shouted again, and again hearing no answer, rushed to where the wife was, “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Look at this!” she screamed, shoving the newspaper into my face, “look what…
Face the Tigers in the Dark..!
Many years ago, just out of college, I worked in my father’s company as a salesman. There’s one lesson I learnt in sales, I’ve never forgotten, and that was to never allow the customer to feel that you needed the sale so desperately because you had no order. There were…
Jesus Rehabilitation Centre..!
“You know Jesus,” said Judas in my very vivid imagination two thousand years ago, as he sidled up to Jesus after a hectic day of healing the lame, and making the blind to see, “You know these High priests and Romans have been watching you pretty closely you know?” “Ofcourse…
Mini-Skirts and the Constitution..!
Just heard that Mary Quant, the British designer who revolutionized fashion with her mini-skirt, is dead. Rest in peace Mary, because it’s not about what you did in uncovering those feminine legs I’m going to write about, but why you did it. Quant brought in her concept of the mini-skirt…
Your Healing Touch..!
I’d never been one to visit the sick and always felt my wife, a doctor, did enough visiting at her hospital for both of us; but this time I had to go. He was an old man, well into his eighties and I had always been particularly fond of him….
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.