Back at his Vasco home, the one-time footballer is enjoying the lull and planning his next move. “A few weeks of rest and then I’m back to the training ground to work on my fitness for the next season. There are certain weaknesses in my game which have been identified by the support staff of CSK and I need to work on them too,” he says.

The two-month-long tryst was a life-changing experience for him and Jakati savoured every moment of it. “My maiden wicket of Tilakaratne Dilshan in my very first over is the best wicket in IPL for me,” Jakati discloses.

“Getting the opposition’s top batsman gave me the needed momentum. And I could experiment more with my deliveries. Whenever I got an opportunity, I gave my best on the field. It’s disappointing that we have lost in the semi-final and failed to qualify.”

Sharing the dressing-room with the Indian skipper and playing with and against other superstars had its positives and Jakati feels it has given him confidence to aim higher.

“The atmosphere of so many world-class players bunched up together obviously rubs onto you. And no matter what you feel, whatever problems you might have, you have the best of the lot to help you out,” he says. “You hardly find that in the domestic circuit, especially when you are playing in the Plate division.”

Professing his love for the game, Jakati says: “Love the game and the game will love you in turn. Do not resort to shortcuts for the game will then shortcut you. Hard work, sacrifice and perseverance are the necessary ingredients for success.”

Elaborating on his success mantra, he adds: “Always believed in hard work and the results will obviously come to you. Self-belief is what everyone should have within themselves. I myself believed in my potential and that’s how I have reached the big stage in IPL.”

But with success comes greater responsibility and he says: “Like every cricketer I too dream of playing for the country. I am looking forward to get an opportunity to deliver my best. But I know the road ahead is far steeper than what I have left behind.”

May indeed was a crazy month for the Captain – snatching time in between his campaign trails to oversee the launch of India’s newest cargo carrier, Deccan 360, for which he is the founder, plus writing his personal journey through a book slated to release in October. With the launch its commercial freight operations on May 27, Captain and his team have the task of choosing entrepreneurs as franchisees.

Excerpts from an interview

With Air Deccan you translated into reality the dream of common Indians to fly. How will Deccan 360 impact peoples’ lives?

If India is to realise its dream of becoming an economic powerhouse in the 21st century, opportunities and markets have to spread across every part of the country – from Delhi and Bangalore to towns like Saharanpur, Kota and Bellary.

In the current scenario over two per cent of our GDP output is estimated as either lost or wasted in the absence of storage and cargo delivery facilities. Unlike the West or even other BRIC nations such as China, manufacturers in smaller cities, traders in the interiors or farmers in villages are unable to compete in the international market because of limited conditions of transportation and connectivity.

My vision for Deccan 360 is of an express cargo and logistics network, which will not only make markets and consumers come closer in the metros and in the hinterlands, but also create opportunities for people in all parts of the country, generating economic and social value at local and national level.

In very simple terms could you explain the different functions of Deccan 360?

Deccan 360 is positioned as India’s new delivery and distribution network with a seamlessly integrated multi-modal setup comprising both air and surface transport to offer cost-efficient, single-widow solutions for diverse cargo handling and express logistics requirements across multiple industries.

Deccan 360 will be the first Indian cargo airlines to launch international freight operations. Our business strategy is focussed on operations, which will offer innovative solutions to the increasingly complex scope of logistics across traditional and new-age industry verticals, such as automotive spare parts, textiles, pharmaceuticals, machinery and heavy equipments, banking and organised retail.

Deccan 360 will deploy three Airbus A310 freighter aircrafts along with six small feeder ATR 42 aircrafts to offer unmatched capacity in the market. We have already inducted our first A310 and two more Airbus A310 aircrafts will arrive early next month.

From being taught at home by your father to going to Sainik School at Bijapur and the National Defence Academy (NDA) and then to be commissioned into the Artillery Corps, life has been a journey. What were some of the biggest learnings that you have put in your entrepreneurial ventures?

There is no recipe for success. An entrepreneur has to pursue his or her passion with single-minded determination and be aware that we cannot let the fear of stumbling make us give up moving ahead. He or she should be ready to grapple with difficulties and setbacks. The only way forward is by keeping a resolute focus on the objective. It is important to consistently remind oneself why one has ventured out in the first place. Most importantly, learn to assimilate failure. No failure or disappointment is a closed chapter. It is an invaluable opportunity to rectify errors, and move forward.

What are the prerequisites required in exploring the franchise model?

Our franchise partners will be appointed through our National Service Participants (NSP) Model, which is based on a simple partnering concept. In NSP, the franchise partner is required to build the business as per specifications and standards defined by Deccan 360, while we will, as owner of the brand, provide the whole gamut of marketing and technical support including the IT infrastructure.

The investment will vary with the location and coverage Deccan 360 would like to assign a NSP. We are looking at a pan-India presence spanning 100 cities across India. Depending on the territory we are looking at setting up service centres or offices ranging from 1,000 sq. feet to 5,000 sq. ft.

One good reason why one should become a business partner with Deccan 360.

First and last mile connectivity is critical in the express logistics industry. For this critical aspect of our business Deccan 360 is looking for National Services Partners or franchise partners willing to invest and manage our pickup and delivery network as well as sales development activities in a specific territory. Through the franchise model, Deccan 360 aims to spawn a generation of mini-entrepreneurs in the express logistics industry.

Having walked the entrepreneurial path – first with Air Deccan and then as an entrepreneurial farmer – the road to Deccan 360 must have been easy. But there must have been early hurdles.

Well, for the best part it has been a rollercoaster ride. I don’t believe in management theories, hence I have always chosen to follow my instinct and do my own research and soul-searching before I make decisions.

As a young Army officer I resigned and took up farming in my native village in Karnataka. This would be the turning point in my life. I worked on a barren piece of land nobody else wanted and for years I was neck deep in the “farmer’s debt trap.” I kept experimenting with new eco-friendly farming techniques and eventually my efforts succeeded. I was able to pay off my debts and make profits.

In the 1990s as the Indian economy was opening up I could sense the opportunities in the aviation industry and decided to establish a budget airline. Funding was easily the biggest challenge. It took me four years just to get a single helicopter on lease. Bureaucratic challenges would be a close second. I had to deal with the red carpet and the red tapism, bouquets and brickbats all simultaneously.

Being a die-hard optimist I absolutely refuse to give up on anything. With every fresh challenge I strain myself to innovate and do things differently and overcome the hurdle. For instance, when we launched Deccan, our first flight had caught fire and we were written off. Then there were strict Government controls and predatory pricing from the competition to deal with. We decided that we would continue to surge ahead against all odds.

Why should youngsters look beyond placements and a corporate career?

The most important inspiration in life is to have a vision – the dream to make a difference, an impact which benefits people, society and the country regardless of one’s field. There is more to life than designations and pay cheques. The more important thing is to believe in oneself and choose the path of one’s calling.

(This is a weekly column that celebrates the spirit of entrepreneurship)

Surprisingly, she claims she is not a jewellery person. “I worked as a freelancer for a dotcom company for a while and this made me comfortable with the Internet. In fact, my flickr pages where I posted most of my jewellery pieces caught a lot of attention. That’s when the blog began and the business became official,” she explains.

A part of the arts and crafts scenario ever since childhood, Deepa was forever intrigued by the patterns and designs one could make with paper. She started it as a hobby, playing around, making random designs. To get comments about her work, she photographed a few and put it up online. Just as she expected, comments and requests for purchase started pouring in and she realised she was “sitting on a gold mine”.

“I decided to work on something wearable for women of any age. The earrings that I make work well for an Indian audience. The first batch of 10 Fingers earrings were launched in December 2008 at DakshinaChitra and were received well. People started getting curious and placed more orders online. Then there was no turning back.”

Paper for the earrings is picked up wherever she shops, while the hooks and stones attached to them are brought in from dealers in various states, according to the required design. Though jewellery makes up most of her business, she also does card and gift toppers on a small scale.

And yes, they’re made of paper too. Six months into the trade, Deepa is now thinking of more retail outlets to distribute her products. But she insists she is most comfortable online. With two outlets – DakshinaChitra and Vanilla Place – already selling her brand, she is happy doing her custom-based design and delivery online, saying it is “easier to work with”.

“With 10 Fingers, I see myself heading somewhere. But I don’t make too many plans. It’s better to just go with the flow. The product works well because its niche is paper. I think paper is seriously underrated. My challenge is to refine its position,” smiles Deepa, her hand carefully lifting up the earring from my hand and sliding it back into its cover.

10 Fingers earrings range from Rs. 175 to Rs. 500 and are available at DakshinaChitra and Vanilla Place, Mylapore. You can also place orders directly at http://paperjewellery.wordpress.com or contact Deepa at 9840326354.

The deceased was 25-year-old Neeti Kumari, a native of Bihar who was working as an air hostess with Air India Express. Police sources said Neeti, who was residing in a rented house in Golden George Nagar near Mogappair, had returned home from work on May 21 night and wasn’t seen outside her home after that. Later on Saturday evening, Bhaskar Rao (49), Neeti’s house owner, grew suspicious over a foul smell emanating from the block where Neeti was residing and alerted the police.

On Saturday night, J.J. Nagar police reached the house and broke open the door, only to find Neeti’s decomposed body in her room. Following preliminary investigations police registered a case of suspicious death and formed a special team to investigate the case.

An investigating officer said the victim’s belongings, including her laptop, two mobile phones and an iPod, were found missing from the crime scene. When police tracked her mobile phone call details they found that the last call was made to a landline number in the neighbourhood. Further investigations revealed that the number was the residence number of one Sheikh Abdullah (22), who was the victim’s neighbour.

During police interrogation Sheikh admitted to have strangulated Neeti to death after being caught red-handed while stealing her belongings from her home on May 21. After this, Sheikh allegedly escaped to his house and found it locked from inside, whereby he dialled the residence landline number using Neeti’s mobile phone to ask his sister to open the front door.

J.J. Nagar police booked a case of murder against Sheikh, remanded him to custody and sent him to Puzhal prison.

Cross culture tunes

At nineteen, he was mesmerised after listening to Pundit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Ustaad Zakir Hussain in a concert held in Israel. This was the turning point for Shye Ben-Tzur who came down to India in the late 1990s to learn the nuances of Indian classical music.

“I was new to the country but I soon got in touch with a Drupad artiste who taught me Hindustani music and I also did a course at Benaras. Later after moving to Ajmer, I was exposed to the qawali musicians and I was really inspired by Sufi music. That’s when I collaborated with them and began writing Hebrew songs and composed them in the folk style. While interacting with them, I also learnt how to speak Hindi and this has really helped me feel the songs I sang.”

Shye became popular after his first album – Heeyam in 2003 – and soon performed in Jahan-e-Khusrau, the prestigious international Sufi music festival held in New Delhi and at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2008.

Now he is all set to release his second album – Shosham (‘rose’ in Hebrew) that has collaborations of Hebrew and Indian folk and Hindustani notes. The album has a beautiful blend of his original compositions, Urdu couplets, Hindi poetries, sufi music and even a Meera bhajan – Daras Bin soulfully sung by veteran classical singer Shubha Mudgal.

“All songs in this album are devotional. When I composed the music for Daras Bin, I first thought of Shubha ji and when I approached her, she readily accepted to sing. The theme and lyrics of all the songs are inspired by my own life experiences,” sums up the lyricist, flautist, vocalist and composer.

Musical blend

They were stranded in an airport’s business lounge for three days without any passport, visa and identity cards and the best thing the musical duo felt was to record sounds of the natural environment in the airport. That was how K n G-Business Class Refugees was born four years back.

The album was the brain child of talented music producer Kartick (aka Patrick Sebag) and sound designer Gotam (aka Yotam Agam) who have fused world music and electronic into a cool groove with global appeal. The band comprises Mahesh Vinayak and Anuraradha Vishwanathan on vocals, Navin Iyer on flute, percussionist Balkrishnan KV, Eyal Mazig (Israeli) on bass and trumpet and many other artistes from all over the globe.

The album that has ten tracks is pleasing to the ear and has various instruments like saxophone, mridangam, sitar, sarod and drums from different countries. “The base is very much Indian and we have blended it with world music,” says the duo.

The group’s maiden album will be launched on Friday at the Courtyard by Marriot Hotel. Ask them why they kept their stage names as Kartick n Gotam, “We have settled in India for music and while performing at various parts of the country, we realised that these names are very popular amongst the masses as against our similar sounding names - Patrick and Yotam and hence the change.”

Sticker campaign

Stickers promoting anti-tobacco slogans will be distributed to motorists, buses, and autos around the city on the day.

Stickers that speak of the ill-effects of tobacco and right to clean air will be put on city buses for a month. “We chose buses as a major tool of our campaign because of the distance they ply, thereby providing visibility to the message. Pictorial warning is a very effective way of creating awareness,” says Annapoorni, medical social worker, Can-Stop.

Oral cancer screening camp

With the support of Sundaram Medical Foundation and Chennai Metropolitan Transport Corporation, the NGO also conducted an oral cancer screening camp for bus drivers and conductors at Ayanavaram bus depot last Saturday. Dr. Arjun Rangarajan, co-ordinator of World No Tobacco Day, says the consumption of tobacco products is relatively high among conductors and drivers.

“So by creating awareness among them, we are planning to spread the message of major tobacco health risks. We also plan to organise similar camps at Anna Nagar West and Vadapalani bus depots over the coming weekends,” Dr. Rangarajan said.

Can-Stop has also set up a helpline for all those who have queries on cancer and the no-smoking campaign. You can contact them at 044-2628 4256.

So far labelled a significant part of the wardrobes of Victorian ladies, lace’s comeback has been the most persistent and conspicuous among all articles of fashion – more than high-waisted trousers, polks dots, pumps or Wayfarers.

The silhouettes where lace is now accommodated are vastly different from those of yonder years – LBDs and day dresses and jumpsuits as opposed to floor-sweeping gowns. Nevertheless, the function of lace has always been to add a dash of mystery and feminity to severe tailoring.

Stella McCartney comes across as lace’s biggest fan. While her autumn/winter 2009-2010 collection saw an extensive use of lace (sometimes even paired with houndstooth fabrics), the designer has been attending recent fashion events in her own lace creations. Last seen, McCartney (in a lace jumpsuit) was having a girls’ night out with muses Kate Bosworth (also in a lace outfit from Stella McCartney), Liv Tyler and Kate Hudson at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute Gala.

At the same event, Mary-Kate Olsen stood out in a grey metallic lace gown from Christian Lacroix, aptly matched with a Goth makeup palette.

Penelope Cruz accepted her Best Actress award at Spain’s Goya Cinema Awards 2009 for Vicky Cristina Barcelona in a black lace floor-length dress from Chanel. Coming to Chanel, the label’s resort 2009-2010 collection that showcased on the sands of the French Riviera saw an exclusive lace sequence beside the striped suspects that characterise resort collections.

Lace found its way to Cannes’ red carpet through Rachel Weisz (in Dior), jury head Isabelle Huppert (Armani Prive) and Loreal face Evangeline Lily (Valentino), to name just a fraction. Also, spring/summer 2009-2010 collections of Christian Lacroix, Jean-Paul Gaultier and John Galliano were a mix of lace and other diaphanous material.

The pictures that are going to be printed are - scorpion, x-ray of a lung and a lung affected with cancer. According to a survey conducted by Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, a research organisation that has been striving towards tobacco control, nearly 99 per cent of the respondents were for pictorial warnings.

Although specialists and NGOs are happy about the action been taken by the concerned authorities, they not sure about whether it would create an impact. “My client had gone to Thailand and after seeing a cancer-affected patient’s picture on the cigarette packet, he immediately came to me for help to quit smoking. I doubt whether such an impact will be created on the minds of the people over here as the images that will be used in Indian market are not disturbing enough.

However images are any day better than text messages as illiterates will understand it better,” says Dr. E.Vidhubala, head of the Tobacco Cessation Centre, Cancer Institute, Adyar

The size of the image is also a matter of concern.

Dr Gupta director of Healis-Sekhsaria Institute for Public Health, a research organisation that has been striving towards tobacco control, says, “For a better impact, ideally warning labels should be large, clear, and cover at least 50% of the package’s principal areas (front and back of the product package) so that the illiterates can understand. But due to the strong lobby, the image will be placed only on one side and the size has also been considerably reduced.”

However according to the clause, the government can review the images and the content after six months confirms Dr Gupta. “We will do a lot of research and try to share our findings to the concerned authorities.”

In her role as PETA India’s chief functionary, she’s seen the international non-profit group through many milestones including PETA’s entry into the Limca Book of Records as the country’s largest animal rights organization.

She reveals that a career in an NGO is far from being a hobby as popularly perceived and that though they officially have five-day weeks, employees are always on call for emergencies routed to them in the absence of other help. “I even make stops on the highways and check my email through wi-fi,” says Sawhney, adding that she doesn’t think of it as a job. “You lose track of time, because it’s not work”.

Her colleagues include accountants, lawyers, MBAs and computer professionals whom she describes as “articulate and rational, and the extra thing everyone has is compassion”. Speaking about the difference between a regular job and one in the social sector, she says: “I know that no one in my office is hurting an animal. We don’t have chairs made of leather. Only vegan food is consumed here. And we all have one common goal.”

Our interview is interrupted by a cheerful bark. She puts me on hold to ask someone - “Why’s Rex jumping about like that? Is he ok?” Rex, who was rescued by PETA (from people who kept him habitually chained), is a regular at her office, alongside other companion animals who can come to work provided they get along with him.

Like her colleagues, Sawhney is always looking towards the next goal, the next cruelty issue to address. “I might get into politics to speak out for animals. And I’m planning a book on animal welfare in India,” she says, quoting from Robert Frost’s poem - “What’s that line again? Miles to go before I sleep”.

She walks the talk, and mentions that she hasn’t switched off her phone in nine years. Has it all been worthwhile? Her answer comes without hesitation. “I can’t believe I ever did anything else with my life”.