It was my late mother some years ago who sent me this meaningful piece, maybe remembering how I was so terrible at mathematics in school. A story about how just one word of praise helped a shy student break through a mental block. Eric, like me, never very confident in…


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.