A Birthday in the 152nd Open Championship
A poem for my brother’s 28th birthday ❤
A cool droplet sank
A falling pearl on colorless, rain rawed grasslands
And I heard the crisp blade of your swing
Pierce the ice winds
In an arc above the wild links terrain
Beneath the soft veil of rain
An ocean tide of people swells on fairway edges
Above the cinema stage of sloping greens
Cheers wash over the ascending galleries
I see my Indian flag unfurl
In an oval semicircle of flags raised high
Your very existence on this storied course
Proves the potential of Bharat
The precision and beauty of your game
Wages war on the toughest climate
Golf can create
Rough gusts, dry thickets, cold downpour
You forage on with your calm-tempered caddie
The Royal Troon is everchanging, unforgiving
It tests every iron and every nerve
But you silence your thoughts
Shut out mental clips of previous shots
And claims on upcoming ones
Your philosopher-poet speech goes
That once practise crosses a threshold
Conscious thinking becomes inessential
You solve nature’s equation
Connect to the divine flow state
Golf is a meditation
And so we persevere
When you play
To my untrained eyes
You appear like a turning deer in a forest
Curve and momentum, a graceful finish
Like a swan wing that unfurls
Writers obtain six drafts at least
Golfers are only ever allowed a first draft
Each shot is your final one
You could be among the world’s best
And yet you must sometimes be a mess
Before the swell of watching crowds
It must take true strength
To lift your head and walk on
I plucked out the Indians who smiled
When they saw the tricolour soar
For when you sparkle
Our hearts are gently lifted
The prism of Indian identity glows
More than ever before
In this elite faraway world
Your actions strengthen us
And we feel the warmth of inner pride
Beneath the soft veil of rain
A cool droplet sank from the sky
It knocked on our kitchen panes
I saw you and smiled
As you took three helpings of Mamma’s Rajma-Chawal
Laughing and sharing stories over the dinner table
And a warm joy lit up your face
It has always left me in wonder
How such lightness can exist with such strength
In one beautifully pure person
Happy birthday, Bhai
I have loved you forever
And I always will
