A nightmare faced by air hostesses quite often, other than hijacks and terrorist attacks are people who want to walk past the food trolley to the toilet when food is being served. I was talking to Anne a pretty young flight steward, and she swore people did it on purpose…
Let’s Produce Harmony..!
’Twas just three years ago, seventy-three voices, including mine, and an orchestra of thirty-one raised their voices, violins, violas, cellos, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, french horns, trumpets, trombones, and a timpani, making glorious music! There must have been a smile on Mozart’s face somewhere in the heavens as he heard Indians…
If Shoes Could Speak..!
Mine did, just now! “What’s happening?” asked my dusty brown pair of shoes, now looking almost black after lying unused for the last eight months or so, “We used to be your source of pride! You even got a family member to bring special polish from New York, for us…
That Night of Terror..!
As I read about the beheading and terrorist sponsored deaths in France, my mind goes to that Night of Terror in the city twelve years ago, when I was just a few feet away as hundreds died! The Press Club in Mumbai where I was spending that evening and finally…
A Letter From God..!
My friend Subbiah sent me this lovely little piece some time ago, which you’ve just got to read: It seemed the dove that came in through my bedroom window had a note for me in its beak. It gently allowed the paper to fall onto my bed and flew away….
Staying On in the White House..!
Suddenly many Americans are scared. “Trump won’t leave the White House!” they say, “even if he loses!” It doesn’t help that visitors standing outside the monumental presidential home in Washington imagine all sorts of suspicious activity. “We saw Trump looking from the windows!” said a visitor. “What’s wrong with that?”…
The Foreign Hand..!
No, I’m not speaking of China or Pakistan, as I see you pondering and wondering who else it could be! Years ago, Prime Ministers like Indira Gandhi and others, when faced with domestic turmoil, would point the entire country towards Pakistan or China, and unite every Indian, regardless of religion…
Uncles With Tails..!
She was just seventeen, French and weeping on my daughter’s shoulder as she came out of the restaurant where we’d partied last night. “What’s up?” I asked my little one, “Why’s she crying?” “What kind of friends do you have dad?” asked my daughter as she walked with the weeping…
Cold Walls..!
And today, a story of Smiley from a play I had written years ago. Smiley was a convict imprisoned in one of those high security jails. Smiley used to look at the high walls that stood between him and the world outside, and longed to be free. He vowed that…
Lyncher or Linchpin..!
Lynch is a bad word today, with mobs roaming the country lynching for the smallest reason and the Supreme Court moving in to frame an anti-lynching law. But there’s a choice, would you be a lyncher or linchpin? “Linchpin?” you ask. Journey with me to yonder village; you hear the…
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.