Yesterday I opened the paper to find right there on the front page, another rape in the outskirts of Mumbai. Sadly, the papers also reported that the girl was out with her boyfriend, insinuating that the girl should have been safely at home, in the kitchen or behind a locked…
Standing by a True Friend..!
The other day someone I knew made a strange statement, “Bob,” he said, “I’m everybody’s friend! I agree with everybody!” “What if you have to make a choice in an argument?” “I won’t,” he said, “I’ll be neutral!” “Which,” I said, “Is letting down the friend who is right! A…
A No-Competition Race..!
At a talk I gave last night in South Mumbai, someone asked me at dinner what I thought of the disqualification of Rahul. I replied that I looked at democracy as a competitive race, in which the best man or woman won. “And to keep the race or democracy afloat,”…
A Church Without God..!
The old church was going to be two hundred! Walls that had never seen paint for over a decade were now scraped, rubbed, primered and painted. Doors and windows hanging on hinges for dear life were lifted, rehinged. An old architect with French beard looked at drawings and looked at…
Leaving an Alluring Model on my Bed..!
T’was this morning I opened the newspaper and found a pretty model showing her dainty self on a dozen different beds. Alluring she looked and inviting a supple body beckoned me to glance at different rooms of the hotel she was advertising for: The Arabian room, Chinese and Polynesian, French…
Jails, not Parliament..!
The auditors of the country, who are very powerful people and oversee how public money is spent by the ones who govern, in my imagination, pursed their lips while the government official sat in front of them. “Sir,” said the first auditor, “there has been some very unwise spending on…
Wedding Bells for Rahul..!
With attacks on poor Rahul worsening by the day, in my very vivid imagination I see the Congress think tank putting on their thinking caps and pondering the best solution to the nightmare brought about by their leader opening his mouth at Cambridge. “An important issue like Adani is being…
Your Unsuitable Suit..!
Many years back while in business for my father, an interior designer, we would get a contract for the home of the managing director or chairman of a big company. Now in all probability I had already visited him in his office and seen him as a powerful person, but…
Balancing Excitement with the Ordinary..!
Something I love to nibble on are cashew nuts! My children and my wife know I love the dry fruit and every once in a while, present me a packet of the same, and for me it is like heaven that day before I finish them all off. I relish…
Speak the World’s Language..!
It may come as a surprise to many, as some leaders clamour for a national language, that both the US and also the UK have no national language. In fact, until the 19th century, the English language was not seen as a unifying force in the UK, as majorities in…
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.