Shout From the Mountaintop, Sir..!
At the BRICS Summit in Rio, our Prime Minister stood tall, chest puffed and chin high, thundered, “The Global South is not being heard!” Bravo, Sir! Bravo! Clap! Clap! Clap! I almost stood up and did a little bhangra right in front of my laptop. But then I paused. You…
Excellence Versus Excuses..!
A few years ago, I found myself in South Korea, seated in a grand concert hall at a world choir competition. Choirs had flown in from everywhere: Ireland, with its haunting Celtic harmonies; England, bringing in its stiff-upper-lip baritones; the Philippines, with voices that could make angels jealous and the…
Air-India and My-India..!
No, I wasn’t on that Air-India flight that crashed, thank God. But yes, I’ve flown Air-India often enough to feel I’ve earned honorary wings — and maybe even a seatbelt buckle that doesn’t work. For years, I remained a loyal flier. Not out of love, mind you, but out of…
Servant Leader or Supreme Ruler?
It was like watching a low-budget remake of a despot’s courtroom drama—except this wasn’t set in some banana republic or fictional dictatorship. No, this bit of tragic theatre played out in the sterile, overworked corridors of a government hospital in Goa, where the stethoscope is mightier than the sword—except when…
Listen to the Generals..!
My mother didn’t raise me on just verses from the scriptures or moral science textbooks. She also raised me on stories of her two brothers—one a top ranking officer who flew fighter jets with the Indian Air Force, and the other who led troops as a proud officer of the…
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.