India, Sept. 28 -- Someone asked me tauntingly, "Who's your first love - Golf or your wife?"

Well, mine came in two instalments - the first wore a bridal saree, the second carried a 7-iron.

Suman, my wife, arrived 56 years ago, sweeping me off my feet. Golf arrived 15 years later. sweeping my feet off the living room carpet and firmly onto the fairways.

She never took to the game herself. She doesn't watch it, doesn't play it, doesn't understand how a grown man can chase a tiny ball for hours and still come home happy. But she has never complained either. Her attitude is: "Let him go. He'll return sunburnt, but not bankrupt."

Golf gives me my daily fix - fresh air, gentle exercise, the occasional miracle shot. But it only takes up 3-4...