As I watch a bishop being set Scot-free by a court which found too little evidence given by the prosecution to convict him, I would like to repeat an old fairy tale, giving it a modern twist, in a twisted world: There once lived a little girl called Red Riding…
Reach Out and Touch..!
Up there in heaven, Mother Teresa, or St Teresa as she is now, must be looking down with sadness at the dying, the destitute, the poor and sick all over the world. She must be wishing she could still reach down and touch broken people and make them whole again….
Life Jam..!
Thought I’d spend the evening at the club last night and as we drove towards dusk, I noticed there was a traffic jam on the other side of the highway. We drove along freely watching the jam stretching for miles on end, when suddenly my daughter remarked, “Dad, do you…
the Nail and the Bullet..!
Twas a bullet that tore into the heart of the man, who spoke non-violence to the world! It was same dastardly bullet that revealed, even as we Indians got freedom through his non-violent movement, that there were people in the country who wanted to remain shackled in violence! It is…
Giving Away Your Shirt..!
‘…When we share—that is poetry in the prose of life…..’ Sigmund Freud Something terribly disgusting in our country is the glamour our political leaders portray through their ostentatious cars and homes they live in. The money they lavish on themselves so blatantly could easily feed a hundred families for a…
Bringing Up Children..!
A few years ago a school down the road asked me if I would address parents on how to bring up children! For a moment I asked myself as to how I’d been selected for the job, and wondered whether it had anything to do with bringing up two daughters,…
No Kick-Starter..!
It was after the unfurling of the flag at the Republic Day function, I notice a stall put up nearby, allowing people to test drive scooters. I go over, and realize it’s been over three decades I’d ridden one, but watch the salesman tell a customer, “Just press the switch!”…
Use Your Voice this Republic Day..!
And as our beautiful flag is unfurled this Republic Day, let your voice and mine, stilled through fear or indifference, flow free, understanding our absolute right to protest, given by a Constitution, whose making we celebrate today! “Use Your Voice!” “Use Your Voice!” The residents of Upper East Side, Manhattan,…
Say Yes To No.!
For many years I worked as a salesman in my father’s company. There were times when I nearly made a sale but the customer would say that he would call me the next day and confirm the order. I would come back quite excited and tell dad I had nearly…
Not Just Cheap Cars..!
How often before finding out more about the quality of a product, we go in for something cheaper based on the price and regret later. Thus, came this imaginary experience of a cheap car: “Our engineers burned the midnight oil to produce this car,” said the MD as he showed…
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.