It was on one of these Zoom calls that this pretty friend asked, “What’s with the beard Bob?” “I’ve always had a beard!” I replied quickly. “True, but you’re suddenly growing it longer!” “So that you will start believing in me!” I said a little angrily. “You mean you’re growing…
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.
Stand Tall Like The Bamboo..!
A doctor friend dropped in one night, he appeared sad and beaten. A patient who had been operated upon in his hospital had gone into coma for no fault of his or his staff and now he was hounded by the media, police and even members of the local community,…
Wagging the Dog’s Tail..!
My daughter was furious as she walked into the room. “What are you doing dad?” she exclaimed. “Wagging the dog’s tail!” I replied very matter of fact, as I physically held my bewildered dog and forcibly shook his tail. “But why?” she asked. “Trying to make it happy,” I said….
Lifted up…!
While thinking of my late mother I remembered a conversation I’d had with her: ‘Bob d’you remember the times Dad carried you, when you walked with him on the hills?” “Yes, ma,” I’d said. “You were scared to jump from one rock to another, and Dad used to stoop down,…
The Dreaded ‘S’ Word..!
And as the nation with a sense of shock finds a state governor deriding a chief minister, calling him ‘secular’ I foresee a situation like this arising: “Ma,” cries a little fellow, as he returns home from school, “Today a boy in class uttered a bad word!” “Bad word!” screams…
Through the Covid Mountain..!
It loomed outside, fearful, menacing, growing bigger everyday: The Covid Mountain! I tried to look beyond, but the forbidding shadow of fear blocked my gaze. It stood, grim, evil, darkly foreboding! “Lord!” I cried, “Take me around the mountain!” And with news of the vaccine, my heart leaped with joy,…
Are You A Rabbit?
Got you, didn’t I? You thought I was calling you a Walt Disney bunny rabbit, didn’t you? One of those hopping four legged furry fellows who multiply as quickly as you put them together, but no, it’s not that type of a rabbit I’m talking about. Did you know when…
Oh Great Visionary Leader..!
‘Can you imagine,’ said the local corporator, poking a fat finger into my ribs, ‘the people want a new bus terminus.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I’ve heard about that.’ ‘What do we need a bus terminus for,’ laughed the corporator, ‘when we have an international airport over here. Which is bigger,…
Peace in Turbulent Times …!
With loved ones testing positive, my head reels, and as I often do, search for some story from old columns of mine that can steady my worried mind. I find one that had long fascinated me; that of an old couple in the Second World War. They lived in London,…
A Solo for the Conductor..!
“Sing the solo Bob!” the choir conductor told me. “No,” I said. “But it’s your old church!” “That’s why I don’t want to sing a solo!” I whisper “I just want to sit in the choir pew I sat in many decades ago, and thank God, for being the God…
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.