Luckily, at this very moment, I am thousands of miles away from Mumbai, watching videos of roads that have turned into rivers, cars bobbing about like reluctant boats and commuters wading through water with expressions that suggest they have finally accepted that fish have better transport facilities than humans. I…
The Bench in the Woods..!
There is a little wooden bench in the woods where I am staying in the Pocono Mountains. Nothing fancy about it. No brass plaque announcing that George Washington once sat there. No sign proclaiming it to be a heritage monument. Just an ordinary bench beneath towering trees that have probably…
Not Burnt by the Fire..!
Whenever life gets difficult, I have a wonderful plan for God. I present it to Him in great detail. “Lord,” I say, “here’s what You need to do. Remove this problem immediately. Eliminate this irritating person. Heal this sickness by lunchtime. Deposit a small miracle into my bank account before…
The Voiceless Minority..!
When I talk about minorities in India, everybody from the majority community checks to see what I have said, but, today I am going to surprise everybody. I have finally discovered the smallest minority in India, and many from the majority community are in that minority one.. No, not one…
Cars with Legs..!
I am writing this from my daughter’s villa, her second home, tucked away in the woods of the Pocono Mountains in the United States. It is so peaceful here that I do believe, if a squirrel sneezes, three deer stop grazing and look up suspiciously. The roads are spotless. The…
When Day is Night..!
International airlines have perfected the art of fooling passengers, and we happily cooperate. The first thing they do after take-off is ask you to pull down your window shades. Outside, the sun is blazing away. Inside, they create midnight. Hundreds of passengers obediently shut out broad daylight without the slightest…
Bullied by the Bully..!
I remember a boy in school who strutted around like he owned the playground. He pinched smaller boys, hid their tiffin boxes, pushed them off the swings and generally behaved like the uncrowned king of the place. Then one day a giant of a boy from another school landed up…
God and the Little Men..!
Every morning I follow a simple routine that has quietly changed my life. Before I allow the world to speak to me, I allow God to do so. I spend time reading the Holy Scriptures and only after that do I unfold the morning newspapers. It was not always this…
Fake News and Raked Up Rules..!
There are days when my WhatsApp resembles a full-time fiction publishing house. Every few minutes another dramatic story arrives. Every one begins with “This happened today,” “Must read,” or “Forward this before they delete it.” If I believed every one of them, I would think our country has become a…
A Good Samaritan India..!
Somewhere in Mumbai, a man collapses on a crowded railway platform. Thousands hurry past because the 8.43 fast local is more important than a human being. In Bengaluru, a delivery rider lies bleeding after an accident while motorists carefully steer around him as though he were just another pothole. Somebody…
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.