A Rupee Coin..!
It happened at a cricket match, the umpire, an elderly gentleman with all the authority of a man who had probably declared many batsmen out unfairly in his life, stood ready for the toss and asked in a serious voice, “Anybody having a one rupee coin?” There was silence. Real…
Thrashing Santa..!
Poor Santa. This year he really did have a rough time. In malls, at parties, across cities and small towns in India, Santa was thrashed. Parties where he made an appearance were ransacked. Even poor roadside vendors selling red caps with white pompoms were not spared. It was as if…
The Suicide Bomber’s Terrible Miscalculation..!
Somewhere in a cramped room with a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, a young man sits hunched over, clutching an object he believes will make him a hero. His eyes burn with a strange fire, the fire of someone convinced that destruction can somehow lead to glory. He’s been…
Why Hail the Bail?
And so, they walked out. Heads covered. Eyes tired. Shoulders slumped—not in defeat, but from ten days of sleeping on cold concrete and listening to threats that would’ve shaken the average street-hardened thug. But they were not thugs. They were not scamsters. They hadn’t set fire to buses or incited…
Holding Onto Their Chair..!
Every now and then someone tells me with eyes wide and voice reverent, “You know, that national leader is old and still works twelve hours a day!” I nod solemnly, as if they’ve just informed me that said leader is personally holding the Earth’s orbit in place. And then I…
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.