There was a time when the first of December arrived with the mellow voice of Jim Reeves singing “Silver Bells” or “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Suddenly the neighbourhood stirred. Curtains were pushed aside, children peeped out, mothers smiled knowingly, and fathers nodded that it was time to pull out…


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.