
{"id":8,"date":"2026-02-06T17:04:46","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/?p=8"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:04:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:04:47","slug":"when-i-was-a-wee-lad-i-once-found-myself-playing-in-the-forests-that-lay-beyond-the-house-my-parents-owned-in-bangladesh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/2026\/02\/06\/when-i-was-a-wee-lad-i-once-found-myself-playing-in-the-forests-that-lay-beyond-the-house-my-parents-owned-in-bangladesh\/","title":{"rendered":"When I was a wee lad, I once found myself playing in the forests that lay beyond the house my parents owned in Bangladesh."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>There, while jumping across a small creek chasing a goat (we don\u2019t have the time to get into it), I faceplanted on a wet rock. For a second, I lay motionless, my feet still in the water. When I looked up, I saw the goat, grimacing, only to kick some dust into my face and run straight back. That day, I swore, that I would come back, and burn these pristine lands into nothingness, take hostage of its life and make mockery of its untouched beauty. I would butcher the very trees that give it life, level it to complete flatness and force its children to bear witness to the naked humiliation. Luckily, we already do that. For golf.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4992888417882142;width:219px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/pexels-ernestorosas-35729590-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mother f-er<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ve always been fascinated with golf, despite being only an occasional player myself. Now, I don\u2019t like the sport because of some noble or reasonable reason like \u201cenjoying the sport\u201d or \u201cconnecting with friends\u201d. I like golf for the same reason young women with confidence issues like guys with the emotional maturity of a scared chihuahua; I believe I can fix it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My fascination with the sport started at the age of 12 when me and a few friends (illegally, I assume) snuck into a golf club in Scarborough. I don\u2019t even remember what for. But what I do remember hiding in a little cabin when someone approached the little shaded area. There, we watched as a fairly older gentleman trotted in with a young and attractive woman. She fell into his arms and they kissed, sharing a little giggle. I remember thinking \u201cWow, that guy must be so cool. I should play golf\u201d. Looking back, definitely extremely weird that a guy was sneaking around with a woman probably less than half his age. But the fact remained that for the next few years of my life, golf was something that was always at the back of my mind.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the sport\u2019s relative simplicity, the technology involved is something to marvel at. From small changes like switching to metal clubs for higher accuracy to absolute game changers like GPS Rangefingers that can accurately measure a terrain and give distances, allowing players to choose relevant strategy. It\u2019s no wonder that the industry is now worth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gcsaa.org\/what-we-do\/advocacy\/priority-issues\/value-of-golf\">more than $100 billion<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, let\u2019s not let the fact that golf is often considered the sport equivalent to Bud Light cloud the fact that some incredibly talented players answered its call. There is a reason Tiger Woods\u2019 name is brought up alongside other GOATs like Micheal Jordan and Muhammad Ali. And in this category, I include Gary Woodland. Despite suffering a brain tumor and regular seizures, he refused to retire, playing in the PGA until he physically couldn&#8217;t. When <a href=\"https:\/\/golf.com\/news\/gary-woodland-brain-tumor-pga-tour\/\">asked about why he came back<\/a>, he simply said, \u201cThe last thing I\u2019m going to let this do is let this thing in my head stop my dreams\u201d. He partially credits his recovery to the physical exertion in the sport and the community he felt from it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What I\u2019m trying to say here is that our health is our greatest asset. As they say in Arabic, \u201cHealth is a crown that the healthy wear, but only the sick can see\u201d. For all the ill will golf can elicit from the public, if that\u2019s what gets you going out and spending time in the sun, I don\u2019t see the harm in it. People have acquired crowns in far less savoury ways.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There, while jumping across a small creek chasing a goat (we don\u2019t have the time to get into it), I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mongolf.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}