A cricket-crazy nation, mass hysteria, a melting pot of superstitions and an 11-member team vying for the world cup and winning it. Okay, it’s not reality, it’s The Zoya Factor. Drawing from the insanity around cricket in India, especially during the World Cup when superstitions rule minds, author Anuja Chauhan’s visual scheme contrived a human lucky mascot for the Indian cricket team. Enjoying ‘an almost giddying sense of power’ while penning her debut novel, this VP (creative) at JWT says, “Writing ad scripts is fun, but you’re essentially telling someone else’s story. Here I had the power to set the pace and action; I could even make them win the World Cup!” Her next novel is romantic, sassy and funny, albeit one in a political setting. “I like the whole spunky-girl-in-a-man’s-world gag, be it in cricket or the Lok Sabha” says Anuja. But the first novel is always special, even one with creepy memories. “Several instances in my book would keep coming true just a few weeks after I’d write them. For example, cricketers getting physical after a match, much like Harbhajan and Sreesanth did. I wrote that 10 months ago! It freaked me out.” Talk about clairvoyance.