Disc golf Dreamers: An Epic Indian Adventure

The wind blew in from the north, a warm wind, heavy with the heat and ash of Rajasthan. It was mid-afternoon. Nick’s t-shirt clung to his body, clammy with sweat. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and stood up from where he had been crouching over his disc.

“What?” He said, looking down at Drew who had been kneeling next to him.

“You want to be careful, buddy. That disc has been burning a hole in my pocket ever since I got it for you. I can’t wait any longer.”

Nick took a step back and looked around at the barren landscape surrounding them; the red clay ground baked hard by the sun and dotted here and there with scraggly clumps of brown brush.

“I know it has, man. I know it has but…I don’t know how to get started yet! I mean, what do you even call this thing? The ‘hole in your pocket?’ Where do we buy our discs? The closest gas station is like an hour away! How do we get out on the course?! I mean, seriously. Are we even allowed to play this thing here? Do we need special permits or something? We might get arrested! Am I even prepared to be doing this? What if Noah doesn’t want me to hang out with him anymore now that I have one of these things? What if my parents find out?! Jesus Christ, Drew! This is huge! What are we going to do about all this stuff??” Nick ran a hand through his hair, exasperated, as he paced back and forth looking around at their surroundings again as if checking for any signs of life nearby that might be able to report their presence here back to the authorities.

Drew lay down on the ground on his stomach, rested on his elbows and smiled back at him while shaking his head slowly from side to side in amusement. His dark skin glistened with sweat too in the midday sun. “I told you not to buy into all that hype man! You already knew how to play this thing before you bought it so don’t be such a worrywart about it! If anyone gives us trouble about playing here we just tell them about Gandhi! And as for Noah…well…that boy has always been unique so don’t worry about that either! Chillax man! You are gonna get heat stroke worrying about stuff like this before you even start throwing your new toy around! Look…the only thing we really need right now is some water and then you can hit a few throws into the wind until your sweaty self cools off a bit before we go try and convince Noah to join us ok?” Drew pulled himself up onto his knees and reached for the backpack he had set down on the ground next to him when they arrived here earlier today. He pulled two bottles of water out of it and tossed one over to Nick who caught it easily by reflex while he began unscrewing the lid of his own bottle before taking a long drink of it. When he finished drinking, he held up his arms and spread them wide outwards towards all sides of their surroundings, gesturing towards their empty surroundings and smiling broadly again at Nick who cracked a smile in return himself while watching him curiously wondering what was going on inside those deep eyes of Drew's brain right now as he made such an extravagant gesture out towards nothing much more than empty air surrounded by nothing but more empty air on all sides save for some dusty reddish clay ground baking under a blazing hot sun that hung high overhead in an empty sky that bore no clouds at all today.

Drew finally lowered his arms again after making that big showy gesture towards everything around them and addressed Nick once more, “OK so let me ask you this…where else are you gonna play this thing outside besides right here exactly where we are standing right now anyway?? So why not just start practicing your game here where you will most likely be playing anyhow? Look, we could go buy ourselves a whole bag full of these discs tomorrow but then what would that accomplish except that we wasted our money buying them? You already are skilled enough at this sport, so why not just go ahead and start throwing right here right now instead of waiting until later when we leave India headed back home to America when you could have been practicing all along without spending any extra money buying more discs for yourself when you already have five perfectly good ones in your hand right now that cost $20 bucks total between all five of them? So what do you say, my friend? Let’s get started already, shall we? Anyways, this is India! Embrace the experience and make the most out of it. Are you with me or what? What do you say? Let me hear it! Come on, let's embrace this adventure together!"