It’s a strange word—surrender. One we don’t like to touch, let alone use. It feels like failure, doesn’t it? Like waving a white flag while the enemy smirks and moves in for the selfie. We’d much rather say ceasefire, or truce, or negotiation, thank you very much. But surrender? No,…
Echoes from a Garden Bench..!
Yesterday, I attended a memorial meeting of a man who spoke softly but left deep impressions—Mr. Noronha. Ninety-five years old. The gathering was held in the garden where he once walked each morning, nodding at the trees, stopping to pat a stray, and sometimes humming under his breath. The weather…
Faith to be Cured..!
Many years ago, I attended a healing service of Pastor Benny Hinn, watched a parade of crutches, walkers, and wheelchairs parked at the back like a garage sale of broken dreams. The preacher waved his arms like a seasoned orchestra conductor, his voice reaching a crescendo, “You shall be healed!”…
Please Believe Us..!
So now we’re sending a delegation. Yes, a “Truth Team,” armed with PowerPoint presentations, handshakes, and Shashi Tharoor’s vocabulary, to convince the world: “This time, honest, we’re telling the truth.” Apparently, bombing terrorist camps, which was a much-needed act and done well and precisely, needs a footnote these days: “Please…
Ceremonial Power, Colonial Palaces..!
Some years ago, I had the privilege—or perhaps the irony—of being accommodated in a guest house inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan compound. Yes, the President’s house. It was just one of those rare opportunities that came my way. I woke up the next morning to the sight of peacocks strolling past…
Air-Vents All Clogged Sir..!
The AC in my bedroom conked out in the middle of the night. Not sputtered. Not whimpered. It just gave up, like a resigned bureaucrat on a Friday afternoon. One moment I was wrapped in Himalayan bliss, the next I was drenched in Sahara sweat. And so I tossed and…
Why Only Him?
So, I read the news today, and lo and behold—our honourable Supreme Court had taken suo motu action. Yes, that Latin phrase we all pretend to understand and nod at solemnly as if we were wearing black coats and quoting from legal files. Apparently, it means the court woke up…
Ping-Pong Wisdom..!
Two speeches. One I was invited to give. The other, I invited myself to speak at. Both occasions ended with a smattering of applause—polite, appreciative, and perhaps even a little relieved that I had finished. But that’s where the similarity ended. At the first one, held in a quiet, wood-paneled…
Not Goodbye but Good Morning..!
It’s a strange feeling, this thing called goodbye. Not the kind you say at airports—those are often filled with soggy handkerchiefs and promises to stay in touch, which evaporate faster than a politician’s promises after elections. No, I’m talking about the kind of goodbye that sneaks up on you while…
Bridges Going Nowhere…!
“Interesting sculpture,” said a friend a year ago, as we drove past the Gokhale Bridge in Andheri, Mumbai, while pointing to the long cement arm reaching out dramatically into thin air, seven feet above the road, like some Olympian gymnast frozen mid-vault. “That’s no sculpture,” I muttered. “That’s a bridge.”…
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.