Aahana and the Spinning Ball
A personalised storybook starring Aahana, age 6
Six-year-old Aahana watches the Indian women's spin bowlers turn the ball sideways on TV and decides she must learn the trick herself. Recess after recess, she practices snapping her pinky finger down as the ball leaves her hand, failing again and again in the school corridor. Just when she is ready to give up, a small success changes her mind, and she carries her new skill to the lunch-break gully cricket match, where she bowls out the tallest boy in her class with a ball that curves sideways just like her heroes'.
Aahana sat close to the TV. The Indian women were bowling. Two sisters of spin, twisting the ball. It curved sideways after it bounced. Pakistan's batters looked so confused! Aahana jumped up and grabbed her rubber ball. If they could do it, she wanted to try it too. She held the ball tight in her small hand.
Page 1
At recess, Aahana ran to the empty corridor. She rolled the ball down the smooth floor. It went straight, straight, straight. Not sideways at all. She picked it up and tried again. Her friend Meher watched from the steps. Come play, Meher called. Just one more try, Aahana said. The bell rang before the ball ever curved.
Page 2
The next day, Aahana watched the video again. She saw the bowler's pinky finger snap down, quick as a blink, right as the ball left her hand. That's the secret, Aahana whispered. She practiced the snap in the air first. Snap, snap, snap. Her finger felt tired and a little sore. But she kept snapping anyway.
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Second recess came. Aahana rolled the ball with her new snap. It wobbled a bit sideways, just a little. Then it rolled straight again. She groaned and flopped onto the floor. Three recesses, she thought, and still no proper curve. Maybe I'm not good at this, she said quietly to no one.
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Meher sat beside her. You rolled it a hundred times, Meher said. The spin bowlers practiced for years and years, not just three days. Aahana thought about that. Even champions must have failed first. She stood back up, dusted off her skirt, and rolled the ball one more time before the bell rang.
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Third recess, last try. Aahana rolled the ball and snapped her pinky down hard. The ball hit the floor and jumped sideways, sharp and sudden. Meher gasped. It curved! It really curved! Aahana laughed out loud. She rolled it again, and again, chasing that same beautiful sideways jump.
Page 6
Lunch break, gully cricket began. Rohan, the tallest boy in class, batted first. He always hit sixes. Aahana bowled her ball down the pitch and snapped her pinky at the last second. The ball pitched, then curved sideways, sneaking past Rohan's bat. His stumps went flying. The whole team cheered so loud.
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Rohan stared at his broken stumps, then grinned. How did you do that, he asked. Teach me the finger snap? Aahana showed him, right there on the pitch. Everyone gathered around to learn. She had practiced quietly for three whole recesses, and now the secret belonged to the whole class.
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