What are Moonballs?

This is my 50th post. It is time to clarify what moonballs are. Or more specifically, what moonballs are not. 

I have been surprised to learn that moonballs sounds risque to some of my peers and potential readers. While my imagination is piqued, I must confess that as a married, heterosexual, 37 year old banker of middle class south Indian antecedents, I am completely ignorant of the risque connotations of moonballs.

Rather than coarsen the tone of this blog by speculating on the possible risque connotations, here are a bunch of other possible meanings of moonballs: 

1. A nick name for idlis. A soft, white, round and iconic Tamil staple food 

2. A nick name for rossogollas. A soft, white, round, very sweet and iconic Bengali staple food 

3. Collector's item golf balls made from rocks that were brought back from the moon by Neil Armstrong 

4. Balls made of flubber, the material invented by The Absent Minded Professor in the film of the same name 

5. Formal dance balls (think Cinderella) held by the light of the harvest moon 

6. Brand name for a green cheese. This is a sphere of synthetically coloured cheddar cheese about the size and shape of a bulls-eye which is being test marketed as a healthy snack for American children 

7. Special white bowling balls used in the final, decisive round of professional bowling matches if the previous rounds fail to identify a clear winner 

8. A very high and slow lob played in tennis. As in: hit the ball all the way up to the moon. This is a cunning shot ideally played on floodlit courts. The ball is hard to spot if it goes above the height of the floodlights 

 9. Balls bowled by Mr Moon. Which translates to Mr Chandra in Sanskrit or Hindi. Planet Earth translates to Planet Prithvi 

10. A cricket delivery mastered by Jeremy Snape, captain of the Leicestershire Foxes and occasional England one-day specialist. A spinner's slower ball. Typically an offbreak bowled so slowly that the batter tends to mistime his hoick and holes out to mid wicket.