The choir sang, the people clapped, the youth smiled and the elderly trembled with anticipation. “What’s the excitement about?” asked the stranger who’d come to this church for the first time. “You don’t know?” asked a member of the church sitting next to him. “No!” said the stranger, “Tell me…
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.
Gunshots in America..!
And as another mass shooting takes place at Maine, in the US, leaving eighteen dead, I am reminded of the frequent school shootings happening inside classrooms around America, having parents live in fear as they bid their children goodbye at school gates. “One for you dad! One for you mom!”…
Ban Vehicles from Using Roads..!
Being driven around Bhopal and watching pedestrians on the road, off the road and nearly on top of the cars and other vehicles, my imagination started working overtime: The two men walking right on the middle of the road, were not bothered by everybody blowing their horns at them….
The Most Beautiful Women..!
They were the most beautiful women I had ever seen together! Oh yes, I have stared unashamedly at calendar collections of beauty queens gathering at some resort, with some famous photographer cunningly revealing all their vital assets, have even read from underneath those pictures, that these women were the most…
No Problem with Problems..!
Quite often I hear somebody telling me, “No problem!” In fact the phrase became so common, that now I hear another, “No worries!” No worries? No problems? How we would love to live a life without worries and problems, wouldn’t we? But what about asking ourselves, “You’re having problems?” and…
Where’s My Coffee Mug?
This happened last year in America, when I was visiting: Even the kitchen looks unfamiliar in the early hours of the morning and with a scowl on my face I open the top drawer where I’m sure my daughter had said the mugs were kept, but a packet of coffee…
Using Broken People..!
I remember that Sunday morning: Three women with smiles on their faces shared their lives with the audience who had gathered in the air-conditioned hall of a five-star hotel. I’m going to change their names: Mary was the first to come to the mike. There was a smile on…
Just Abide With Me Lord…!
Over ten years ago, mentally beaten, bashed and bruised by members of my own faith who ran a religious magazine, and hounded by a lying editor, I sought comfort in the words of the hymn, “Abide with Me” Fickle are the affections of men and women. We feel so often…
Behind the Stone Wall Mountain…!
Once upon a time, two hermits, moved by the desire of sanctifying themselves, lived in a hostile, rocky desert. Their caves faced each other. After years of intense prayer and terrible mortifications, one hermit was convinced that he had arrived at the summit of perfection. The other was equally pious, but…
Lashing Out and Losing Out..!
Being an avid watcher of crime movies, I’ve noticed that whenever a member of the police force has a relative involved in a crime, that particular officer is taken off the case as his or her judgement would be clouded with anger, rage or revenge. Whereas what the police force…
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.