Goin’ Up In Smoke..!
“Want a smoke?” asked my friend Ramesh as we sat in the college cafeteria, many years ago. “No,” I said, but watched fascinated as Ramesh pulled out a pack of twenty from his shirt pocket, lit a cigarette with a flourish, and holding it expertly between his fingers brought it…
Putty, Paint and Professional Pretense..!
It was a narrow bridge one climbed, from once a lazy station, onto the road above. Elphinstone Road station in Mumbai was hardly used previously, except by mill workers of old, going to work or returning to their homes. And then in the last twenty years the whole area changed:…
Breaking the Spirit of Not Just Dogs..!
Every day I saw him with his terrified dog. Leash in one hand and stick in the other, he screamed, shrieked and shouted commands to the poor dumb creature and if the four legged fellow failed to comprehend or refused to obey, the stick swished the air and came down…
Trolls from the Woodwork..!
‘Kohli slams spineless trolls targeting Shami’ 31st Oct, New Indian Express The trolls of today are like worms from the woodwork! They roam the face of websites, whatsapp groups and have a huge online presence! In the good ole days, when one read or heard fairytales on one’s mother’s lap,…
Chimney Sweeps…!
Ever so often in my childhood, the book I carried out of the library was one called ‘Waterbabies’ My heart went out to some of the little children of London whose job it was to clean chimneys. With long broom and ragged clothes and matted hair that also looked like…
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.