‘Ahoy! Ship aground!’ I nearly shouted, as a couple of years ago while driving down near Worli Sea face in Mumbai, my wife and I saw the strangest of sights; just a couple of hundred feet away from us, loomed a ship, huge and gigantic. There was something awesome, though…
Our Desi Lie Detector..!
Increasingly every day, I’m hearing about the use of the lie detector by the police. For many years I’d thought that the polygraph machine was only used with the consent of the accused party but I’m beginning to realise I was wrong and that now it’s a fact that detective…
The Voice in the Grave..!
We all love making resolutions to lose weight or start a hobby or something, don’t we? The problem is getting started. Dorothy Heller illustrated this with an all-too-true poem: I spent a fortune On a treadmill, A stationary bike And a rowing machine Complete with gadgets To…
Greeting a Young India..!
Many countries line up to greet the young seventy-seven-year-old, ” Happy Birthday India!” says China, “May you become as great a super power as I am!” “I already am,” smiles India, “with a billion and quarter people who can think what they want, say what they’d like to and not…
Enjoy Growing Old..!
How often I meet people who fight the fact they are growing old. Here are some lines for them on ageing, some borrowed and some my own: ‘Old age is a gift. I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to…
Scars, Wounds and Courage..!
For those who think of suicide as a way out, or those in depression, do I pen this little tale of mine: The fourteen-year old boy and sister standing by his side looked questioningly at their parents who were pulling the drapes across the windows. The father then pulled a…
Wax Figures at Madame Tussauds…!
When asked what I brought back from my visit to England last month, all I can proudly say is, ‘memories!’ one of which was visiting the famous wax museum of Madame Tussaud’s in London where I joined other visitors in posing next to famous personalities, though distancing myself from evil…
Peacemaker or Brawl Stopper..!
“Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God” (Matt. 5:9). A scene I remember from my school days was two classmates in a brawl, oftimes quite bloody, with cuts and bruises, the effect of punches and kicks. And then would arrive the ‘peacemaker,’ or maybe a…
Throw the Water Up..!
As a writer, quite often I wish I could live forever in a world of imagination and storytelling! But that cannot be and we writers may have our heads up there in the clouds of a novel, play or article, but our feet have to be on the ground. Very…
Blowing Off Your Steam..!
For hundreds of years, it was said that instead of keeping anger bottled up inside, it was important to let it out. We called it, ‘blowing off your steam!” However, recent studies challenge the common belief that blowing off your steam or venting when you are angry can help release…
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.