Very often nowadays I hear people I know quite well, exclaiming they are senior citizens. It’s as if they have suddenly come to a chasm, jumped the other side, and are qualified to call themselves so. I hear it so often, it has begun to quite amuse me, especially the…
Experience Silence and Feel Alive..!
The other day when I went onto the treadmill, I was asked why I didn’t play music while exercising and realized quite often I prefer silence! The world today hates silence: In fact, I’m beginning to think, people are scared of silence. There was a time I traveled by the…
Living On A Lie..!
As I saw pictures of the nineteen floor illegal buildings in Cochin being brought down after the Supreme Court ordered it, and saw other illegal villas in Alibagh being torn down by the government, I thought of children who know that their parents have usurped land that does not belong…
How Do You Walk?
An old priest once stopped me and said, “I would love to meet your dad!” “Why?” I asked laughing, “I hope you don’t want to complain to him about me?” He smiled, “No Bob, I’ve seen the way you and your brother walk, and am sure you both got your…
Namaste..!
This morning I watched him wish me with a Namaste! I have always been fascinated by this simple greeting, but today looked closer and found it very touching. There was something warm and meaningful in his gesture. He was actually touching his heart with the end of his folded hands….
Fancy Glasses But Not For Me..!
This happened a few years ago: My driver was a little confused that morning, “Sir, but why are you insisting on your old glasses?” I could well understand his being puzzled: It had been a day of problems I had gone through the day before, and in a moment of…
Dead Tree Outside My Window..!
It’s not that there was a storm that night, just a bit of a strong breeze, but I was puzzled when I saw lots of sky the next day outside my window and then realized that a tree outside had vanished. For a moment I was shocked. You would have…
Are You Watching Your Child Protesting?
Goons enter the JNU college. They thrash professors and students. The Union President, a girl, Aishe Ghoshe is beaten on the head with iron rods, thrown to the ground, kicked, punched, bleeding and badly injured is admitted to hospital where she receives sixteen stitches on her bloodied head! Next day,…
News You Won’t Believe..!
One of the tabloids some time ago had most of its first page blank; boxed in the middle in small font was the grim and distressing news that ‘Today’s news is being withheld as India is under attack from the Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and an elite squadron of handpicked warriors from…
Leave the Familiar..!
On my last visit to Chicago while walking through a college campus, I was pleasantly surprised to see a museum piece in the compound. It was an ancient wagon, the type the first settlers in America used, when they crossed the continent with their families to settle on land thousands…
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.