hidden image

Bob’s Banter by Robert Clements To Lead, Accede and Succeed..!

Robert Clements Robert Clements
22 May 2023
The Chair looks at both and says sadly, “I wish I could decide that! Maybe, just as you people are giving more and more rights to womenfolk and even mixed genders

The chief minister for Karnataka has finally been chosen, but for a few crucial days after the elections, a tale of two ambitious men holding tightly to the chief minister’s Chair, unfolded!

In my wild imagination while their fight was going one, I see these two glaring at each other as they stand next to the Chair, and then are startled to hear the Chair crying out, “So you two want to sit on me?”

“Yes,” says Sidda, “I have been standing for the last five years and I need to sit!”

“And I have worked hard just to sit on you!” shouts Shiv, “It is my right!”

The Chair looks at both and says sadly, “I wish I could decide that! Maybe, just as you people are giving more and more rights to womenfolk and even mixed genders, it’s time you allowed us chairs to decide, whose heavy bottom we want to be placed on us, and that to, for five full years!”

“Okay,” says Sidda, “Let’s say hypothetically you were given a chance to decide, who would you choose between the both of us?”
“That’s a question you both will have to answer, once I tell you the type of person I want on me!” replies the Chair.

“And what kind of person would you want, a small bottomed leader, so you wouldn’t be fully smothered? A less heavy leader, who wouldn’t weaken your springs? Or maybe a lady would be your preference, huh?” asks one of the chief ministerial aspirants.

“Yeah, who would you have?” asks the other, “Shall we turn around, so you can see us better and decide who will fit right?”

Both the aspirants laugh together albeit bitterly even as they hear the Chair say, “What I want to see are not your backsides, but who between you has the qualities of a servant-leader!”

“What leader!” shouts Shiv.

“What’s that?” asks Sidda

“That,” says the Chair, “Is someone who will allow his people to sit on the chair, while he kneels and serves them!”

‘That’s me!” shout both Sidda and Shiv together.

“If that was the case,” whispers the Chair sadly, “You both wouldn’t having been fighting as to who wanted to occupy me, but would have been offering the chair to each other!”

The two rivals, put their heads down as the Chair continues, “The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” shouts one aspirant, looking defiantly at the Chair.

“Oh yes, it is, only if you want to be like Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Martin Luther King Jr!”

As Sidda and Shiv put their heads down, the Chair continues, “To lead, you need to accede, then you will succeed..!”

bobsbanter@gmail.com

Recent Posts

From colonial opium to today's smartphones, India has perfected the art of numbing its youth. While neighbours topple governments through conviction and courage, our fatalism breeds a quietism that su
apicture A. J. Philip
08 Dec 2025
Across state and cultural frontiers, a new generation is redefining activism—mixing digital mobilisation with grassroots courage to defend land, identity and ecology. Their persistence shows that mean
apicture Pachu Menon
08 Dec 2025
A convention exposing nearly 5,000 attacks on Christians drew barely fifteen hundred people—yet concerts pack stadiums. If we can gather for spectacle but not for suffering, our witness is fractured.
apicture Vijayesh Lal
08 Dec 2025
Leadership training empowers children with discipline, confidence, and clarity of vision. Through inclusive learning, social awareness, and value-based activities, they learn to respect diversity, exp
apicture Jacob Peenikaparambil
08 Dec 2025
The Kamalesan case reveals how inherited colonial structures continue to shape the Army's religious practices. By prioritising ritual conformity over constitutional freedom, the forces risk underminin
apicture Oliver D'Souza
08 Dec 2025
Zohran Mamdani's rise in New York exposes a bitter truth: a Muslim idealist can inspire America, yet would be unthinkable in today's India, where Hindutva politics has normalised bigotry and rendered
apicture Mathew John
08 Dec 2025
Climate change is now a daily classroom disruptor, pushing the already precariously perched crores of Indian children—especially girls and those in vulnerable regions—out of learning. Unless resilient
apicture Jaswant Kaur
08 Dec 2025
The ideas sown in classrooms today will shape the country tomorrow. India must decide whether it wants citizens who can think, question, and understand—or citizens trained only to conform. The choice
apicture Fr Soroj Mullick, SDB
08 Dec 2025
In your Jasmine hall, I landed Hoping to find refuge, to be free, and sleep, But all I met were your stares, sharp, cold, and protesting.
apicture Dr Suryaraju Mattimalla
08 Dec 2025
Children are either obedient or disobedient. If they are obedient, we treat them as our slaves. And if they are rebellious, we wash our hands of them. Our mind, too, is like a child, and children are
apicture P. Raja
08 Dec 2025