So, the GST Council has decided to simplify our lives. Yes, you heard right—simplify! Out go the old four tax slabs, in come two: 5% and 18%. And for those who like their pleasures with a little indulgence—say, a cigar, a peg, or imported cheese—there’s a brand-new “sin and luxury”…
Rectifying India’s Bruised Ego..!
Ah, a billion or more of us have our cheeks swollen again! Not from a cricket ball hurled by a Pakistani fast bowler, but from the slap of Uncle Sam’s indifference. We lie bruised because the American administration—led by Trump, the dealmaker-in-chief—has not treated us with the reverence we’ve been…
When Playing Second Fiddle..!
I sometimes wonder if the violin named “second fiddle” ever felt insulted. After all, when the orchestra begins, the spotlight is never on him. It’s the first violin who soaks in the applause, while the poor second fiddle just sits there, bow in hand, looking like an unpaid extra in…
The Handsomest in the Room..!
I’ve always been fond of John. Short fellow, yes, but he somehow looked taller than most—on stage, in a crowd, even over a steaming cup of cutting chai. People said he wasn’t good-looking, but I’d seen enough pretty girls clinging to his arm to know otherwise. What he had was…
You’ll Never Run Out of Pebbles..!
For the last one month or so, I’ve watched my daughter’s little one tug at my sleeve with one simple request: “Grandpa, David and Goliath!” No, she wasn’t asking me to take her to Jerusalem to stand in some museum. She wanted me to play the video—again and again—on my…
Dreading the ‘Retirement’ Word..!
Suddenly two old men in our country, reaching the age of seventy-five seem to be dreading giving up power and post. Retirement for the two has suddenly become the dreaded “R” word. They, who once thundered, “Everyone must make way for the young!” may soon be filing petitions for “extensions,”…
No Need for Qualifications..!
The highly acclaimed interviewer came storming out of the interview room, his face red, not from the summer heat, but from sheer frustration. “Everybody wants the job,” he spluttered, “but nobody wants to reveal their qualifications!” “Why?” I asked, “maybe their certificates were washed away in the last monsoon flood?”…
Export Without Tariffs..!
“Declare what you are carrying!” the stern-looking customs officer at the US airport growled at me the other day, and I wondered, what if I wasn’t just me, the lone traveler, but India herself walking through international customs? What would the declaration form of India look like? Under Exports, instead…
Profiteering and Funding a War..!
During the Second World War, stories were told of black marketers who hoarded cigarettes, butter, and sugar, and sold them at obscene prices. The world despised them. They were looked at as parasites, gnawing at the miseries of ordinary folk, profiteering while others bled. But here in India, oh how…
The Sky Above and Embers Below..!
Last night, in the Poconos, near Lake Naomi, where we are holidaying, our camp fire burned bright. Sparks flew upward like tiny stars, wood crackled, and flames licked the night with warmth and light. We sat around it, roasting marshmallows, laughing at each other’s sticky fingers, and marveling at how…
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.