“The China Virus!” spouted Trump, every time he opened his mouth about Covid-19, and now with Afghanistan taken over by terrorists, terror may get a new name: Virus-T! The world looks fearfully at the world’s most difficult terrain to conquer as a land that will soon be a refuge for…
Gentleman Jim..!
Even now, nearly fifty years after his death, from different households throughout the world flows out the rich, powerful voice of Jim Reeves. A strong baritone, he sang country, pop and gospel and even beat the Beatles in record sales for many years during the fifties and early sixties. But…
Pushing Yourself Out of a Grave..!
Many years ago, I worked as a salesman in my dad’s interior decoration company. Something that I feared and dreaded was to get a call in the morning from dad, that a customer who’s place we were supposed to start that morning had changed his mind. The first thing that…
Death Through Cellphone Chatter..!
I see many people talking on their cell phones while driving or riding their bikes, and to such as these do I bring back an article from my archives: The young man driving the latest fancy car had one arm on the steering wheel and the other hugging his cell…
The Watch Thrown on the Floor..!
The watch on the floor looked broken. I had seen it being flung to the ground. It had taken but a moment, for the little child to take the watch from me and in one remorseless fling had thrown it into the air and I had watched it crash to…
Self-Pity and the Snow Storm..!
Many years ago while reading the book, Silas Marner by George Eliot, I remember the way one of the characters, Molly dies in a snow storm. She trudges through the falling snow and finding it increasingly difficult to walk, stumbles, falls, then takes the last bit of opium she carries…
Mouse and Motherboard..!
India may be tops in IT, but for those who have not mastered mouse and motherboard, the changeover is a nightmare! A few years ago a writer friend of mine who was a diehard typewriter faithful finally was persuaded to change over to a computer. He had his first problem…
Truth and Justice Chandrachud..!
‘..truth is both a sword and a shield in a democracy…” Justice Chandrachud “Impossible!” we shake our heads and say in disbelief. “That there’s actually someone who believes in the truth!” we whisper. With lies, fake news, manipulation of data and tweaking of facts becoming a way of life, and…
Ban Lifts and Bridges..!
Three years ago Mumbai woke up to the scary news that a portion of a bridge in Andheri had collapsed. Soon all bridges were hurriedly scrutinized and the next morning’s paper mentioned three bridges had been closed to the public and people banned from using them. A few years ago,…
God’s Garlands for Us..!
The old man looked out of his window. He saw his neighbour very surreptitiously placing a ladder on his side of the wall, then as he watched, the man very quietly climbed up, put his hand onto the other side which was the old man’s side of the wall, 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.