Bob’s Banter

  • Trust and Our Country..!
    Politics in our country has reached such a low, that people just won’t trust politicians. I got a frantic message from a poor friend in Orissa saying that all around him people were dying for lack of oxygen,
  • What Gives You Wings?
    I heard a funny story: A small plane with an instructor and student on board hit the runway and bounced repeatedly until it came to a stop. The instructor turned to the student and said, “That was a terrible
  • Slow Down and Live..!
    For the last few years I’ve been hearing of one of our political readers who hardly rests and is always is in a hurry. I do understand that as that was once how I lived. In fact, for years on end, my time spe
  • The Real Monster..!
    The Whatsapp message that came to me was from a phone number of an Indian in America, it said, ‘Terror has no religion’. However it was not making a statement, it was mocking a particular religious communit
  • She Sat Smiling..!
    The rain fell in gentle drops onto the waiting leaves that seemed to be smiling as they raised their branches heavenward and received their watery blessing. The birds sang happily, and lazily flew from tree to
  • They Are Our Children..!
    ‘Twas two years ago, three friends and I drove to Goa, and stopped at a well-known restaurant for lunch. It was an open-air eatery and as we sat we could see car loads of families coming with hungry passenger
  • Cyclone Cruelty and the CA..!
    Cruel, heartless and merciless was evil wind that blew in last week, piloted with ferocity by Cyclone Tauktae herself! Scorn writ all over her face, she mowed down all in her path; trees, lampposts, hutments an
  • Being UnIndian..!
    With patriotism being questioned, sedition being defined and slogans being the criteria for motherland loyalty, we may have a confused people in the country: My daughter, who stands at attention when the nation
  • A Joy Within..!
    She was short, squat and dowdy, and as I ran to join the group of tourists at the heritage building I wondered what this women was doing as a guide. The lady looked up over the heads of the others and instead o
  • Justice Magnified..!
    As I see the blame game going between the owners of the barge which saw nearly sixty die last week on the Bombay High Seas, and the late captain, we hear people saying we should be lenient with someone or other
  • Being Careful or Careless..!
    “You know Bob,” my wife told me the other day, “It’s time we changed our furniture!”“Why?” I asked, “Our furniture is fine!”“It’s old!”I looked at my furniture. It was certainly old, but
  • Punctured Lifeboats..!
    Filled with horror I read about the twenty-seven ONGC employees who died and fifty-three missing, when their barge sank during Cyclone Tauktae’s tryst with the west coast of India. The barge, as you know, is
  • My Bank Balance and I.!
    It’s generally after an event, a wedding or some other occasion like a lavish holiday when I realize I’m nearly broke and my driver comes back from the bank with my passbook. I open it with fear and trembli
  • Broken Branch..!
    The cyclone has just passed and as I looked down, I saw the broken branch, “Oh that’s so sad!” I shouted, “It must have happened with winds over 120 kms an hour!”“The winds were terrible!” agreed
  • Death Rage and the Doc..!
    Maybe it’s the fact that in the middle of the cyclone today, my wife a doctor, had to rush to the hospital to save a life that makes me write about ‘Death rage’ todayWe have all seen or experienced this f
  • Living Like Men..!
    As science progresses, men are slowly becoming a worried lot as they find women are slowly not going to need them anymore and could one day become pregnant even without their help. “Human embryos without fath
  • Shut Up, When Others Grieve..!
    Yesterday I went to the home of a friend who had lost her father. I sat in silence and let her cry.One of the silliest things I have seen at a funeral is someone going across to the bereaved party, holding his
  • Cheap Car, Cheap Vaccine..!
    In our country we love to pay little and get much. The mechanic who repairs my car knows this and was at my house this morning and led me to his own garage: “I have made the cheapest car in the world!” he s
  • Pointing Beauty to a Despairing World..!
    Even as musicians carefully wrap their instruments in satin felt, and place them inside cases, I urge them to bring them out. In a despairing world, it is art and creativity that shows beauty that will soon be
  • Right Connections..!
    In our great country not many awards are won through merit or hard work, most are won through right connections!The stationmaster of the local suburban station came and stood by me, leaving his office in the ca
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