As I bid farewell to the masons, carpenters and electricians and the last of the construction workers after they had repaired my old house, in the process carrying away three lorry loads or more of debris, I walked wearily up to my terrace. “Who are you?” I shouted a bit…
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.
Being Secular and the Supreme Court..!
‘Be secular: Supreme Court on PIL for ban on parties with religious link’ TOI, 1st Feb “What’s the news in India?” asked my American friend, as I read an Indian newspaper in an airport in America. “A Supreme Court judge has asked a petitioner to be secular!” I said. “Ssshhh!”…
Unplugged..!
Mornings are coffee time, and a time, which I spend most conscientiously brewing the concoction to perfection! Quite a few of my friends, knowing my love for the brew, send me packets of the pod from all over the country. Some arrive from a special friend, Toviholi in Nagaland, Jogi…
Excitement from Purpose..!
Once while conducting a workshop on ‘Purpose and the Job’ a participant stopped my talk and asked me, “I am a senior manager of a materials department and joined this organization twenty five years ago as an engineer trainee and over the last 25 years I have gone through every…
BBC Ban and Barbed Barriers..!
Many, many decades ago, when I was around twelve, a cousin of mine, a medical student from the prestigious medical college in Vellore, presented me with, “An Area of Darkness” by Naipaul! I read it and a little later found that the book had been banned by the then Indian…
Churches, Courts and Lucifer..!
“When you have something against another Christian, why do you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter?” 1 Corinthians 6:1 Oh what a mockery we make of our Christianity! I once attended Christmas at a church, and there, instead of the good priest talking joyously…
Sales, and Flying High like a Butterfly..!
Something that excites me after the excitement of writing is teaching and sales! Now that’s a very strange combination isn’t it? “Your passion for writing, we understand, teaching too,” say relatives and friends, “but isn’t sales an area with a lot of uncertainty?” “Yes, indeed it is, but that’s one…
Adulation, Checks, and Balances..!
Bob’s Banter No man is a god! When man comes to power, he comes with a suitcase full of weaknesses, and one of them is adulation! Which man doesn’t love to hear the roar of a crowd as he walks on stage? Which man doesn’t love seeing looks of adoration…
The Garden and the Gardener..!
Was sitting in my garden this morning, when I was struck by the sheer beauty all around, the joy the different shades of green gave out, and looking more closely realized how the leaves of the different plants were shaped so elegantly different! Yes, elegantly, because, it was as if…
The Charge of Our Light Brigade..!
“Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the soldier knew Someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do…
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.