hidden image

Bob’s Banter by Robert Clements: Selling Joy Sir?

Robert Clements Robert Clements
26 Jun 2023

I read that the PM led the Yoga Day celebrations at the UN!

I’m glad yoga is being exported from India, and that slowly the whole world is realizing that attaining peace and joy are more important than even attaining nuclear muscle. That peace within can change the world and make it more livable. But again, isn’t the taste of the pudding in the eating? Shouldn’t we as the yoga capital of the world be showing the world that we Indians through mediation are the most peace-loving people in the world?

Am reading a delightful book, called, ‘The Book of Joy’ which is a New York Times Bestseller. The book speaks about a wonderful week which his holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu spent together. Desmond Tutu, became the first black Bishop of a predominantly white Anglican South African denomination. It was a time when the majority African blacks had taken over their country, but between Nelson Mandela, and Tutu who he appointed as head of the Truth and Reconciliation committee, they managed to bring unity between the majority blacks and the minority whites who had previously been their rulers and harsh administrators. 

Archbishop Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his great efforts.

We all know what the Dalai Lama has gone through. Though thrown out of his homeland Tibet by the Chinese, where he had reigned as the spiritual head, he bears no hatred or anger towards China but continues to win people through his messages of peace and his spontaneous joy.

If there were two gigantic leaders who had the right to discuss methods of bringing joy to a joyless world it was these two.

Thus, when they talk of joy, the world listens.

The world listens when we practice what we preach!    

Charles Blondin was a famous pioneer of tightrope walking. In 1859 Blondin crossed the Niagara Falls on a 3-inch tightrope, walking about 400 yards across the water at a height of 160 feet. Thousands of spectators gasped at his boldness and skill.

In subsequent shows, he repeated his performance with various twists: walking blindfolded, prancing on stilts, or sitting down on the rope in the middle of the Niagara Falls to cook himself an omelet. Once he even carried his manager across on his back.

After lugging his manager across the Falls, Blondin went up to a spectator and asked, “Do you believe I could carry you across the Niagara on my back?”

“I sure do.”

Blodin said, “Hop on.”

The man replied, “Not on your life!”

Today as I look at violent scenes all over my beloved country, what we are saying is, “Yes, we believe in Yoga!”

“Then bring peace to your country!”

“Not on my life!”

Is that the way to sell peace and joy sir?

bobsbanter@gmail.com

 

Recent Posts

The BJP's push to drop 'secular' from the Constitution is part of a deeper effort to reshape India's democratic identity. Behind the verbiage lies a long-standing ambition to replace constitutional va
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
14 Jul 2025
As history is reshaped to fit a narrow political script in a very Nazi fashion, the roles of Dalits, Muslims, and Christians in building modern India are being quietly erased.
apicture Fr Soroj Mullick, SDB
14 Jul 2025
The Supreme Court questioned the legality and timing of the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of Bihar's voters' list. Concerns were raised over arbitrary procedures, lack of safeguards
apicture Joseph Maliakan
14 Jul 2025
Education is evolving, driven by passionate educators like Fr Gabriel Coutinho, who champion innovative, child-centric methods. Workshops like EXPERIMATH are indicative of the shift towards hands-on l
apicture Pachu Menon
14 Jul 2025
A Microsoft employee, after 25 years of service, discovers that he has been laid off without warning. The job that he had been holding onto for the last 25 years is no longer there, speaking aloud tha
apicture Jaswant Kaur
14 Jul 2025
Although intimations of Air India's precipitate decline have been doing the rounds for quite some time, we have been diehard clientele of the airline, certainly not for love or Atma nirbhar considerat
apicture Mathew John & Annie Mathew
14 Jul 2025
Amid rising inequality and neglect, Indian workers face rights that evade them, precarious jobs, and unsafe conditions. Strikes, stalled reforms, AI-driven gig work, and apathetic climate expose the d
apicture Jose Vattakuzhy
14 Jul 2025
Make your reels, dance your dances, speak your truth. But also, seek something deeper. Let your greatest influence be not your wardrobe or your views, but the stillness in your spirit, the peace in yo
apicture Robert Clements
14 Jul 2025
In a world scarred by war, hatred, and inhuman leadership, education must humanise, not merely inform. Sanjeevani Vidyapeeth shows how empowering the marginalised with values, character, and competenc
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
07 Jul 2025
The sinking of MSC ELSA 3 off Kerala's coast exposes a toxic mix of corporate impunity, political complicity, and environmental neglect. As hazardous cargo threatens lives and livelihoods, the silence
apicture Joseph Maliakan
07 Jul 2025