Buffalo boy who cracked China’s luxury market

By the yardsticks of his two dozen or so rustic cousins, Mr Ravi Thakran would have been a success if he had fulfilled his first ambition: to be a truck driver with Jaipur Golden, a fleet operator reputed for providing its staff with smart uniforms and paid annual leave.

After all, for many of them, their own futures lay in being wrestlers, bouncers – and for those especially fortunate and able – the lowest rungs of India’s army or police forces.