A friend asked me the other day, whether I miss my youth, or long for times which have passed, and I told him, ‘no’! I have always loved the present, and while thinking about this and also about ageing I put together from different sources some light lines that could…
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.
Pulling Up Your Crop..!
How often we are so impatient to see the results of some effort we are putting into some venture or other! We might have to study day and night and wonder whether it is worth it and whether we are wasting our time. “If only we could see our future!”…
Don’t Use Your Muscle..!
It was after a Christmas concert, while walking out of the Cathedral, I felt a touch on my arm, and a lady asking, “When will you put up a play again?” I looked at her, “You remember?” I asked, “It’s nearly thirty years since I directed a play, I’d written!”…
Two Wives..!
Quite often some public figure caught in the public glare, having a rollicking time with someone other than his wife, exclaims, “Leave my private life alone!” What he means is that he’s got two lives, one for the public eye and the other not for us to look at. And…
Famous Last Words..!
Fifteen years ago or so, on the death of Art Buchwald the famous humour columnist, my column replaced his in Dubai’s Khaleej Times. On reading more about the great man into whose shoes I had stepped in I found that the New York Times had interviewed Art Buchwald just before…
Tackling Death and the Unknown..!
Most everyone is scared of the unknown. When we board a plane, we are just a bit terrified, as we know that soon we will not be in control. When we leave our home in the morning, we spy a black cat and wonder what’s in store for us, even…
Pointed Ears..!
Yesterday I got a note from a reader, saying, “Bob, I long for the day when I won’t have any more problems!” And I thought of Mr Pointed Ears! Some ten years ago, a new dog, with long pointed ears, entered the colony I live in. Nobody wanted the new…
Win Life’s Battles..!
Life’s battles don’t always go, to the stronger or faster man, But sooner or later, the man who wins is the man who thinks he can! Many, many years back I learned something I will never forget. I learnt you can more or less get what you want from…
Granny not a Nanny..!
Today’s column is addressed more to youngsters than older folk: It starts with old people living quite comfortably in retirement receiving a letter from a son or daughter settled abroad, inviting them over for a holiday. “A holiday!” They both shout and start packing, though at the back of their…
Never Too Busy for God’s Work..!
“Hi!” said the dead man as he arrived at the Pearly Gates, “May I come in?” “You’ll have to wait,” said the angel, “St Peter is busy, and may take eternity to attend to you!” “So, what am I supposed to do?” asked the dead man at the Pearly Gates….
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.