It’s a small showpiece dagger I hold in my hand, a present from the Mayor of Batangas in the Philippines, when I’d visited the country many years ago. He was a young mayor and I heard quite a gangster and war lord. There was a reception at the mayor’s palace…
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.
Enjoy Your Joy..!
My wife, a medical doctor, is quite strict about the sweets I am allowed to have, and when she does give me permission, laughs as I take it, sit on my favourite rocking chair, and relish the delicacy! “Why are you closing your eyes?” she asks chuckling away. “Because I…
Pegasus: Courtier Behind the Closed Door..!
Watching movies centred around old kingdoms, kings and courts, one is intrigued by the role played by courtiers who surround the king, or the ladies in waiting, bowing and curtsying a queen! But, their role was not just in looking after their monarch and his wife, but they played a…
Harassment, Laws and Courts..!
Laws like sedition and abetment to suicide are used conveniently by the police to harass the public. And because cunning people know such laws can be used to land you in jail, they threaten you with them. “I am going to commit suicide!” “What? For this small amount of money?”…
Car Fun..!
What part of the car causes the most accidents? Ans: The nut that holds the wheel! Opened the newspaper this morning and found a whole supplement devoted to cars so I said, well if you can’t beat them, join them and decided to devote today’s column to car fun! When…
The Helpful Sounds of Silence..!
A wise old bird sat on an oak- The more he saw, the less he spoke, The less he spoke, the more he heard, Lord make me like that wise old bird.-Anon For two weeks I’d stopped carrying my phone. My friends thought I was crazy. “Bob!” they cried, “we…
Position, Power, but NO People..!
He was the Bishop of the local churches and also Chairman of a charitable organization of which I was a board member. Pompous and plump, he quite enjoyed chairing the meeting, especially after the general secretary had fallen sick and he had the attention of everybody. We discussed matters at…
Colonial Sedition and Democracy..!
Even as I hear the Supreme Court calling sedition, a ‘colonial’ law, I also hear that a hundred farmers have been slapped with the same ‘colonial’ law for protesting! I agree, nobody likes his car stopped on a highway, especially a Speaker! But that’s democracy! Just as a government is…
Those We Touch Everyday..!
This happened on Valentines Day, a few months ago: I had just finished my jog and was sitting on a bench in the park, when a young girl, who had also been jogging came and sat next to me. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” she said and I politely wished her the…
Peeping Out of the Window..!
There’s a big difference between looking out of your window and peeping out, and generally the difference lies in the attitude of the person at the window: Does he or she want to be seen? If she doesn’t want to be seen she peeps, if she or he couldn’t be…
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.