It wasn’t too long ago that scowls and frowns greeted me when I entered a store abroad: Salesman at counter, shop owner and all the customers lifting their heads none too discretely, knew I’d come in just to browse, look at stuff, touch, sigh at price, maybe even venture to…


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.