It was a quote that made me smile this morning. “We have to find landing ground for our trade discussions,” said our External Affairs Minister, reported The Times of India. Now, in my vivid imagination—one that has a life of its own—I see the weary minister flying to yet another…
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.
Our No Touch Cricket Policy..!
It’s not the United Nations or NATO that’s in panic this week—it’s the world’s cricket boards! All over the globe, from Melbourne to Manchester, from Kingston to Karachi, political leaders have been receiving the strangest messages from their cricket teams. “Please don’t interfere with India’s foreign policies!” pleaded the West…
Be Still, Knowing…!
There are days when my fingers hover over the keyboard, the screen stares back blankly, and I tell myself, “Be still.” But I smile even as I say it, because I know “stillness” isn’t about sitting motionless like a marble statue in a yoga class that’s run out of music….
Fake News and Official Truth..!
Strange isn’t it? We live in an age where the word news has become the most misleading of all words. News once meant the truth. You bought your morning paper or switched on your TV set, and you knew what you were getting was facts. Uncomfortable sometimes, yes, but truth…
Trapeze Artist Dies, Psychologists Called..!
It was a tragic evening in Bautzen, Germany. A twenty-seven-year-old trapeze artist, flying through the air, missed her hold and fell to her death in front of horrified children and their parents. The big top went silent. The gasps of awe turned into cries of horror. And then—what surprised me…
Gandhi Jayanti, Dasara and Democracy..!
Today has two celebrations—Gandhi Jayanti and Dasara—both point us to the same lesson: the fight for freedom and the triumph of good over evil. But before we burst firecrackers or garland Gandhi’s statues, let’s pause and ask a small but piercing question: What did the Mahatma actually fight for? “Freedom!”…
Eight Minutes Late..!
The bus was supposed to arrive at 6:15. It turned up at 6:23. Eight minutes late. Eight minutes in which I transformed from a calm citizen to a pacing tiger outside a zoo cage. I looked at my watch, scowled at the road, and mentally composed angry letters to the…
Behave Like Winners..!
It’s been a strange spectacle, isn’t it? Eleven men in blue who carry the hopes of a billion people on their shoulders, but when they walk the field in the Asian Cup, their behaviour reeks not of victors, but sulking losers. The scoreboard may tell us we’ve won, but the…
Manipulator or Master Builder..!
Yesterday, at an AGM, I saw a liar and manipulator being destroyed. Not with drama, not with sirens or headlines, but with the quiet implosion that happens when one’s own tricks finally trip them up. This man had thought himself clever. He placed his stooges in committees like pawns on…
A Wet, Marked, Used Bible..!
This morning, while sitting in my little garden, I opened my Bible for my usual quiet time. The birds were chirping, the breeze was gentle, and everything looked perfect for meditation — until a few mischievous drops of rain were blown onto my open pages. I jumped up, hastily closing…
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.