Tears of ecstasy rolled down my cheeks as I listened to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and as the choir thundered in German, ‘Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt. I sang along, ‘Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt!’ The music slowly stopped, but tears kept flowing,…
Providing Fishing Nets..!
“..Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Provide him with a net and you feed him for a lifetime…” Adapted Chinese proverb. Last week, I was invited for a function where adman Piyush Pandey released his book. There, I was introduced to a gentleman who…
We Need a Sense of Humour..!
Give me a sense of humor, Lord; Give me the grace to see a joke, To get some humor out of life, And pass it on to other folk. Ah! Tis easier writing tragedy than crafting comedy! It’s so easy for a writer to bring tears into a reader’s eye,…
A Fire Dog and Your Purpose..!
“I’m useless! I don’t think I’m cut out for anything!” I nearly choked on my food as I heard this from the lady standing at my side. It was lunch break at a seminar on ‘Purpose and Work’ I was addressing and I’d noticed that even through the supposedly motivational…
Friendly Fire and the Congress..!
In Lexington, Virginia, lie the mortal remains of a legend, General Stonewall Jackson. General Jackson earned his nickname at the First Battle of Manassas. This was during the American Civil War, the Confederate soldiers were hard pressed. General Gerard Barnard Bee was desperately trying to rally his troops to withstand…
The Smiling Sadhu..!
He was a sadhu like any other sadhu except he had a grin on his face. He looked at my glum face and asked, “You like my smile?” I nodded even as he changed his expression and made his face a grimace, “How do you like me now?” “Horrible!” I…
Husband Exchange Offer..!
“A kind salesman has offered to visit our house,” said the wife to me. “What kind of kind salesman?” I asked. “He’s going to tell us what we need to buy!” “A salesman is going to come to my house and tell me what I need to buy?” I asked…
Gun Control and Agents of Fear..!
Bang! Bang! Bang! And sadly, another twenty-one bangs from the shooter’s deadly gun, saw children sprawled all over the classroom, dead! What kind of a stupid country is this, that has one of the safest security forces in the world, and still allows people to carry guns to defend themselves?…
Fooled by the Golden Glow..!
The other day an employee of mine showed me his phone worth a huge amount. “But that’s a costly phone!” I said. “With my credit card sir!” he said. And today, that’s what I see; with no money in the wallet but with a piece of plastic in hand more…
Giving and Receiving Help..!
The other day I decided to do something a bit wicked, not too naughty to make you stop reading farther, but just a wee bit wicked. I’d often found people leaning across and telling me, when there was about to be a event of any kind, “Bob, if you ever…
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.