India won. Not in kabaddi, not in gilli-danda, but in cricket. We thrashed New Zealand, and a few days earlier we had done the same to England. And that is where the comedy of history begins. Because cricket, in case we have conveniently forgotten, is a colonial game. It arrived…
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.
A Powerless Silence..!
Something quite extraordinary has happened in our country this week. Silence. Not the peaceful silence of meditation. Not the calm silence of a choir rehearsal. Not even the slightly suspicious silence of a child who has stopped making noise and is probably drawing on the wall with a permanent marker….
A Samaritan Women’s Day..!
Today is Women’s Day. Across the world speeches are made, flowers are distributed, and social media becomes a garden of inspirational quotes written by men who still cannot locate the kitchen sink. It is a beautiful day. But as I thought about Women’s Day, my mind did not travel to…
Woman’s Day In India..!
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day. Across the world women celebrate freedom. Hard won freedom. The right to vote. The right to work. The right to choose their partners. The right to equal pay. The right to stand up and say, “Excuse me gentlemen, kindly step aside, we also live on…
War Experts of India..!
India has quietly become the global headquarters of war expertise. Not in the Pentagon. Not in NATO headquarters. Not even in the United Nations. No, the real military command centres are located in Indian living rooms, park benches, paan shops, Mumbai locals, and, of course, the sacred battlefield known as…
Short Men and Tall Women..!
Somewhere in the mysterious headquarters where society writes its unwritten rules, a committee must have once met and decided something very important. Men must be tall. Women must be short. In fairy tales the prince is tall, heroic and rides a horse with impressive posture. The princess is delicate and…
The Joy of Beginning…!
This morning I began my sixth book. Sixth. Which either means I am hardworking or that publishers have not yet figured out how to block my emails. The book is titled One Note at a Time. It is about choral music and life, and how both can go gloriously right…
Sanju Samson’s Smash..!
Ninety-seven runs in fifty balls! That is not a cricket score. That is a public announcement that the bowlers may kindly reconsider their career choices. The West Indies had piled up a total so enormous that even optimistic Indian uncles travelling in Mumbai locals, who know more about cricket than…
War..!
War is that strange human hobby in which we destroy everything we have built, and then hold conferences to discuss reconstruction. It begins with speeches. It always begins with speeches. Leaders stand tall, chests expanded like overinflated tyres, voices trembling with patriotic passion. Words like honour, security, destiny and sovereignty…
Churches for Entertainment..!
God, I have always believed, is not fussy about geography. You can find Him in a cathedral, a chawl, a hospital corridor, or even while stuck in Mumbai traffic near Mahim Causeway, which, I assure you, requires divine intervention. But when Solomon built the Temple, God was not casual. He…
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.