There is a strange epidemic sweeping across drawing rooms, coffee shops, family lunches, office corridors, and unfortunately, even national television studios. It is called Opinion Diarrhoea. The uncontrollable urge to give one’s opinion on everything under the sun, moon, stars, and possibly on things happening in galaxies we have never…
Adulation and the Fall..!
Life has a wonderfully predictable script. A person begins with nothing. Works hard. Struggles heroically. Prays occasionally. Succeeds unexpectedly. And then trips spectacularly. Not because success is poisonous. But because applause is. Most people who fall do not slip on banana peels. They slip on compliments. At the beginning of…
Your Simple Lie Detector..!
One of the toughest challenges today is not traffic, pollution, or even rising blood pressure. It is figuring out whether the government is speaking the truth or performing for the national stage. Every morning, newspapers announce spectacular achievements. Television anchors shout even louder ones. We are told we have signed…
Only One Speed Saar..!
Because a wedding party was arriving at the YWCA International Guest House in Chennai, we were moved from an air conditioned room to a non AC one. Chennai weather being kind at this time of year, I was not bothered. A fan would do. I turned the regulator. Click. The…
The Indian Budget Tamasha..!
The Indian Budget is that annual national festival which arrives with great fanfare, deep mystery, and absolutely no guarantee of happiness. For one week before Budget Day, every Indian suddenly becomes an economist. Your vegetable vendor discusses fiscal deficit. Your neighbour explains capital expenditure. Your uncle forwards WhatsApp messages predicting…
Admitting We Are Weak..!
One of my favourite verses in the Bible is tucked away quietly in Isaiah chapter forty verse twenty nine. ‘He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.’ But like many verses we love, we sometimes love them selectively. We love the part…
Stop Performing to be Loved…!
Over the last week I have been spending time with people who were part of my growing up years. Schoolmates. College mates. Church friends. Choir companions. People who once shared classrooms, benches, hymn books, secrets, and occasionally punishment. I did something unusual. I kept quiet. I listened. I watched. And…
In the Debris of a Plane Crash..!
The news came like news always does these days. Casually. Between a cricket score and a discount sale. Someone powerful is suddenly no more. Not someone I supported. Not someone whose speeches I memorised. But someone who mattered in the larger scheme of things. Someone who occupied space in the…
Therapy without Walls..!
The school buildings had been torn down a year ago. Flattened. Cleared. Wiped out. All to make way for something modern. Something glassy. Something that probably has air conditioning that actually works. Where our school hall once stood, there is now another building. Where we once stood nervously waiting for…
Unfurling and Hoisting the Flag..!
There is a brand-new national pastime that has quietly overtaken cricket, it is the sacred art of correcting someone who says the wrong word on the wrong day. “You do not hoist the flag on Republic Day,” someone declares importantly.“You unfurl it.” Another voice booms back.“And on Independence Day you…
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.