“How could he?” we shout hysterically when we find that a godman or a man of God, has fallen into a honeytrap! “He’s nearly a god!” some say. “He is one!” say others, and therein lies the problem. Many years ago, an old, wise, ninety- year old lady stopped me…
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.
Blah! Blah! Blah..!
“What’s that noise?” my wife asked, one holiday, sitting at home. I listened. It was a low far off rumble, and as you listened it grew louder and louder and became increasingly deafening. And then enlightenment came, “Its people talking!” I exclaimed. “It’s a holiday and it’s the sound of…
Hearts On Fire..!
A few years ago I was asked if I’d teach the art of public speaking to some people from an economically poor background. That day, I looked at a motley set of people and as I began to speak my heart sank; they looked anything but people who would one…
The God of My Dreams..!
It was while visiting my old choir friends last month, I remembered this incident many years ago: “Sing the solo Bob!” the then conductor had asked me. “No,” I whispered, “I just want to sit in the choir pew I sat in many decades ago, and thank the God of…
Before Your Song Is Over..!
Over two decades ago I lay on a hospital bed with a near fatal illness. It was an air-conditioned room and as soon as everybody left after putting me there, I scrambled onto my bed weakly, opened the windows and looked out. “Sir,” said a nurse who was passing by,…
Living Longer with Punjabi Samosas..!
“What do I write about?” I pondered aloud. “Me!” said the wife, “That I’m going to live sixteen months less because I married you!” “What utter rubbish,” I said, “your life span will increase with a partner like me!” “Read this,” she sniffed, handing me the morning paper, “it says…
They Know Not What They Do..!
Yesterday at the writer’s class I conduct I spoke on words uttered on the cross by Jesus that has impacted my thinking and those words are that of a dying Jesus, being murdered by the soldiers and priests who cries out to a God above, “Father forgive them, for they…
Our Festivals of Joy..!
“What’s wrong with you?” I said to my gardener last week as he stood with a crestfallen face before me. “Now you want money for Diwali, then your wife will want to buy new clothes during Christmas and finally you’ll ask me for a big advance for New Year!” “I…
Think Outside the Box..!
As I watch many startups crumbling, I’ve realized quite often they all started with brilliant ideas then fell into the trap of borrowing and pumping in money instead of pumping in ideas as they went along. When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found that the pens…
A No Nose Car..!
It was during one of my visits to the village I heard a commotion, “What’s happening?” I asked as I walked out of my gate and saw Ramesh my neighbour and his old mother dancing on the road. “Mother’s a crorepati!” shouted Ramesh. “Not crorepati,” cackled the old lady, “ten…
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.