Three Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat

'Nothing's wrong. We have some questions,' Ish said.
The doctor put his torch down. 'Questions?'
'This boy is gifted in cricket. I want to know how he does it,' Ish said.
'Does what?' Dr Verma said. 'Some people are just talented.' 'I bowled four balls
to him. He slammed sixes on all of them,' lsh said.
'What?' Dr Verma said. He knew lsh was one of the best players in the
neighbourhood.
'Unbelievable but true,' I chimed in. 'Also, he sat down after four balls. He said
his head hurt'
Dr Verma turned to Ali. 'You like cricket, baba?'
'No,' Ali said.
'This is more complicated than the usual viral fever. What happened after the
four balls, baba?'
'Whenever I play with concentration, my head starts hurting, Ali said. He slid
his hands into his pocket. I heard the rustle of marbles.
'Let us check your eyes,' Dr Verma said and stood up to go" to the testing
room.
'Eyesight is fantastic,' Dr Verma said, returning. 'I recommend you meet my
friend Dr Multani from the city hospital. He is an eye specialist and used to be a
team doctor for a baseball team in USA. In fact, I haven't met him for a year. I can
take you tomorrow if you want.'
We nodded. I reached for my wallet. Dr Verma gave me a stern glance to stop.
'Fascinating,' Dr Multani said only one word as he held up Mi's MRI scan. He
had spent two hours with Ali. He did every test imaginable - a fitness check, a
blood test, retinal scans, a computerised hand-eye coordination exam. The Matrix
style MRI, where Ali had to lie down head first inside a chamber, proved most
useful.
'I miss my sports-doctor days, Verma. This love for Amdavad made me give up
a lot,' Dr Multani said. He ordered tea and khakra for all of us.
Are we done?' Ali said and yawned.
'Almost. Play marbles in the garden outside if you want,' I )r Multani said. He
kept quiet until Ali left.
'That was some work, Multani, for a little headache,' Dr Verma s.iid.
'It is not just a headache,' Dr Multani said and munched a kliakra. 'Ish is right,
the boy is exceptionally gifted.'
'How?' I blurted. What was in those tests that said Ali could smash any bowler
to bits.
'The boy has hyper-reflex. It is an aberration in medical terms, but proving to
be a gift for cricket.'
'Hyper what?' Omi echoed.
'Hyper reflex,' Dr Multani lifted a round glass paper weight from I lis table and
pretended to hurl it at Omi. Omi ducked. 'When I ihrow this at you, what do you
do? You reflexively try to prevent 1 he attack. I didn't give you an advance
warning and everything happened in a split second. Thus, you didn't do a
conscious think to duck away, it just happened.'
Dr Multani paused for a sip of water and continued, 'It matters little in
everyday life, except if we touch something too hot or too cold. However, in sports
it is crucial.' Dr Multani paused to open .1 few reports and picked up another
khakra.