Samurai Sourav savours cricket more than biz

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">The captain of the Indian team has a few announcements to make. Despite months of speculation, Sourav Ganguly is not starting a restaurant. <br /><br />There were animated talks of a karaoke bar, cricket library, Bengali cuisine restaurant... but the captain has finally decided to retain his helmet and abandon the chef''s hat.<br /><br />"My agent had suggested starting a restaurant pre-World Cup, which then seemed like a good idea.But in the months that followed I was so caught up with training and gearing up for the World Cup, and later the Cup itself that everything else took a backseat. Later it just fizzled out."<br /><br />Sourav laughs when told that there have been reports that the Kolkata outlet is almost ready. "Really?" he asks amused, and beckons his buddies, "ask them, they are from Kolkata." <br /><br />And then smiles from ear-to-ear. "You can''t blame anyone, everyone is looking for their 15 seconds of fame."<br /><br />And Sourav Ganguly Percept D''Mark (SGPDM), which was meant to work on the business model of cricket and entertainment tie-up with cricketing giants world over, is no more. <br /><br />"I''d started the company knowing that I''d have no time for it apart from the initial conceptualisation. I was clear that I''d overview it after a year, which when I did, I realised that my not being around was showing and so opted out." <br /><br />But Sourav''s penchant for identifying and grooming young talent is more than visible in the Indian team.<br /><br />Post a great innings at the World Cup, Sourav is enjoying being at home. <br /><br />"Cal too is experiencing heavy rains. Days are spent training and if grounded at home, watch football, courtesy East Bengal''s great innings." Coming back to the announcements, Souravs has just added another brand to his endorsements.<br /><br />For the past two days he''s been shooting in Mumbai under ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar''s direction. <br /><br />It''s a Hidden Dragon Crouching Tiger kind of <span style="" font-style:="" italic="">avtar</span> that Kakkar has conjured for a commercial.<br /><br />And daddy''s darling is already out shopping with mom. Little Sanna shopping? "She''s grown up," he smiles, "eighteen months old!"</div> </div>