Years ago as a nine year old I decided to send a poem to a local newspaper and waited day after day for the postman. One day he did come and with him a letter. I eagerly opened it and found a note from the editor telling me my poem…
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.
Event Interrupters…!
Was watching a Carol Service this morning, and when the priest went up to pray, I saw two men climbing behind him with wires and cords in their hands and plugging in something. They were captured on camera and took away from the relevance of the words that were being…
Keepers of the Fold..!
The wise old angel looked at the little angel, and offered his divine wings to wipe the tears in her eyes, “Why are you crying little angel?” he asked kindly. It was unusual to see weeping in the heavenly realm and he was a little uncertain how to deal with…
Clearing the Stink…!
There’s no doubt the reckless act by the five youngsters in Parliament is a very serious one. But just as a wise parent goes deeper into why his or her child caused a tantrum, we as a nation need to delve into this episode, especially after realising it was not…
Bad Backup..!
The advertisement was huge and attractive. It talked about a waterproofing job the company could undertake that would guarantee my terrace would not leak the next monsoon. I liked the advertisement. I rang the number. I hated the voice. “Hello!” I said, “I saw your advertisement in the housing magazine,…
Write Right..!
Just have a glance at the messages on your cell phone, you’ll realize spelling is changing; gone are the old traditional ways of orthography; now its minimum letters to get maximum meaning across. However, a guest appearance I made some time ago took the cake: It was organized by a large…
Rowing with Both Oars..!
Most of us spend a greater part of our lives worrying about things not going right. But did just worrying about a situation ever change anything? Did it make a child come home sooner? Or a test score higher? Did it put money in your pocket? Or a ring on…
If You Were a Sweeper..!
An ambitious priest I once knew had only one ambition, not to change people for the better, but to become a bishop, and when year after year his attempts at becoming one failed, he spoke to me about demonic forces that kept his ambition at bay. “No sir,” I told…
The Greatest Story Ever Told..!
‘And where did the greatest story ever told take place?’ I asked the audience of businessmen and their wives who’d come to celebrate with a Christmas dinner? ‘Not in a manger,’ I told them, ‘but in the realms of heaven where a worried and frustrated God looked down at a…
Rash Driving and the Government..!
A few years ago, the Supreme Court felt that the two years imprisonment meted out for causing death due to rash driving was ‘grossly inadequate’. Before agreeing I would like to define what the police believe is rash and negligent driving, and what actually happens on the road when an…
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.