There was no lunch laid out for me the other day. It’s a habit of mine to leave my door open, while I write in my study. The cook comes in everyday as she has been coming for the last twenty five years and cooks a meal for me. When…
Prayer and a Landline..!
T’was a few years ago sitting at my cousin’s house in Delhi with a host of friends and relatives we were startled by the strangest of sounds: Since my cousin had gone over to the neighbor’s, each of us pretended not to have heard the noise assuming it came from…
The 51st Class Reunion..!
It was fifty years since they’d passed out from school. There were giggles and chuckles, lots of laughter as balding men gazed adoringly at grey haired women. They gasped to realize who each of them was, even as old friendships were reignited, and shy glances at first crushes were exchanged….
China Edging Closer..!
In the days of old, even just a hundred years ago, nations made secret agreements with each other. These treaties were thrown on the face of a warring enemy, who suddenly realized they had a more formidable conflict in their hands after they saw the secret treaty. Some important secret…
The Heat Is Killing Me..!
The stuffed teddy bear, belonging to one of my daughters when she’d been little, now sat in all regality on a little rocking chair, also belonging to my other daughter when she was little. The bear looked at me with its beady eyes, “Why are you pacing up and down…
Profiting from Suicide..!
A few months ago, a president of a social club called an organization which was to teach him leadership training and said, “I want my money back, I have no time for the course!” “Sir,” said the coordinator, “You know our policy, we don’t refund money, but we will do…
Our Valuable Junk..!
People coming home ask me why I still keep most of my junk, and I tell them of the same conversation I had with my car. “Where’s the car?” they ask, and I tell them about the talk I had with my car: “Garages!” said my car angrily that day,…
Passiontide and Justice..!
Was surprised to see that my Sunday political column had been displaced in the Nagpur newspaper, since they were celebrating their Golden Jubilee, but the title of the new piece said, “I See No Intolerance!” I was shocked! Hear more about my experience in my talk to the members of…
Are We becoming an Insular Nation?
It was blistering hot as I lay on the deckchair, in a beach somewhere in the country, and like all Indians, was happy to have the large umbrella protecting me from the harsh sun blazing overhead. But, not the middle-aged white couple next to me. They seemed to be enjoying…
Say, ‘No Problem’ to Problems..!
Quite often I hear somebody telling me, “No problem!” In fact the phrase became so common, that now I hear another, “No worries!” No worries? No problems? How we would love to live a life without worries and problems, wouldn’t we? But what about asking ourselves, “You’re having problems?” and…
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.