Wind’s fault

Imagine me on one side of the division by a steel wire(originally meant for hanging clothes to dry, of course no net for home players) hanging a little crooked between the two walls and my sister on the other side of it. I am waving my racket, playing shots at the empty air and she is looking at me with a zealous fire in her eyes. She serves.

The shuttle cock lifts high and high and flies over the top of me. I thrust my hand upward to make my racket reach and hit it back but I miss because of the loftiness. It befalls and I bow down to pick it up. She shouts, “1-0”.

“But it was way too high.”

She doesn’t reply and I serve(we do not play by traditional rules. Anyone can serve anytime) while saying, “That is blatantly wrong.” And before my words reach her, the shuttle falls down… on my side. A fault in my serve. “I was distracted. I was talking to you.”

She doesn’t reply. And I pick it up once again to serve. Thankfully, it goes right. After a good rally, I gain my first point. The match continues.




Then, it happens. “10-6” “12-8” Shot after shot, she makes the winning points because I can’t match the height of her shots. I complain. Sometimes, she obliges by agreeing to giving no one any point but other times, I myself reward her with the increasing numbers because after all, my strokes are not good enough. And as she well puts it, “It is the wind’s fault. It is blowing in your direction and when I strike my racket and make a shot, the shuttle goes way too up than the height it is intended to reach while on your side.”

I know it to be quite true.

After I gain some momentum, the score reaches, 15-15.




She plays the winning shot.

I say, “It was the wind’s fault. I could have won it.”

“Hmm. I won it from you for the first time.” She just nods but forgets to mention that it is the wind’s fault.

We play some more but eventually stop because of the fast blowing wind. See, it is actually the wind’s fault.

it is the wind’s fault

aiming at the height of it

shuttle cock befalls


shuttle cock befalls

eyes follow its passage down

palms freeze by wind’s fault


losing the high aim

I grunt and wipe my cold sweat

it is the wind’s fault


By the way, I won today. Yay! You did yay as well, right? End score: 21-17, 21-18. 🙂 I will be linking it up with the Poetry Pantry today. I will be here and there… somewhere but I will eventually visit you to read the poetic confluence of your words.

18 thoughts on “Wind’s fault

  1. (Sounds like good logic to me, HA! Smiles) But on the other hand, sometimes a person isn’t ready to deal with the fact that someone is just a better player for a time. However, if NEXT time the opponent is beaten, undoubtedly it will be just pure skill. I enjoyed this one, HA!


  2. Very nice haibun, HA! I was right with you watching the game. It is frustrating to lose when you think you could have won, isn’t it? Good that you won the next game!


  3. cool blend of prose and poetry…i read this two ways….as a father playing with child and that moment they finally beat you….and in playing with a love…and there are def times when my wife beats me…and we joke that i let her…or it was the wind….the winds of change def play into the first…and the second…smiles.


  4. How fun on the losing and winning though its the wind who is at fault ~ The number count down made it a fast & energetic read too ~ The haibun works well HA ~


  5. Neat prose/poetry–Haibun–that tells a tale we can all relate to. Whether badminton, some other game, or life, we win or lose, but always need to know how the wind is blowing. I particularly like the three haiku with a repeated line.


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