And as we approach Good Friday, I see Jesus on the cross, and with a sad face He hears the sounds of the howling mob, braying for His blood. He had heard them earlier in Pilate’s courtyard as they had shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Jesus must have looked into…
Writing History Through Fiction..!
The wife nearly came bouncing into my study, where I pretended to write an article while actually looking longingly at some online shopping clothes, “There’s some government officials to see you!” she said. “Oh no!” I said, “Have they come to arrest me?” “They’re not cops,” she said, “I think…
Mona’s Nose..!
A few years ago, a close friend of mine brought along a painting by a great painter. Over a century old it looked dull and listless and in certain places patchy. “Could you get those sections touched up?” asked my friend to the curator of one of the best art…
Legs in the Air with a Smile..!
A few years ago, when Pluto, the stray I’d adopted was alive, I walked into his room: He lay on his back, all four legs in the air. I looked at his face, his eyes were shut and as I peered closely, I could have sworn there was a smile;…
Catch The Horse Thieves..!
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…
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.