A SMALL girl sat, poring hard over a chess board. In front of her sat her opponent, her grandfather. This 12-year-old had a penfriend in the States - and she had an absurd hatred for posting her own letters. Suddenly, she perked up and declared, "Grandpa, I'm gonna make a deal. If I win, you're gonna post my letters. If you do, I'll get you your cigarettes."

The girl won the game.

Eleven years later, she is declared owner of the most beautiful smile among 27 contestants at a beauty pageant. After that fragile tiara is placed on her head, she is asked, "You have won this. Now what?" She quips back, "The Femina Miss India 1997 crown."

Diana Hayden won the crown. And it had a lot to do with the fact that she's headstrong, knows what she wants and is willing to work hard to get it. She is Femina Miss India-World 1997 now. And anyone who cares to ask her, "You have won this. Now what?", will hear: "The Miss World 1997 crown!" That is, besides getting into modelling full time and hosting a TV talk show - the Oprah Winfrey kind.

Twenty-three-year-old Diana has already made a name for herself, as manager of the Artists' Management Division of Mumbai-based BMG Crescendo. She managed singers Mehnaz and Anaida and the group, Mantra. She says: "A 26-hour job it was! I had to handle PR, marketing, arrange their stage shows - it was like looking after babies, taking care of everything. And three shows per artiste per month, and that is a lot of tension!"

Tension is as important for Diana Hayden as water is to fish (her own words). She vouches, "My work is my passion." What happens to that passion now? She shrugs, and reveals that she quit BMG Crescendo just before she went in for the training. "I felt it wasn't fair to ask them to wait for two months, perhaps more. What's more, I had finally, after a lot of head-banging, decided to enter modelling, full time." And had she not won the crown, she would still have concentrated on modelling.

Strange it should have happened now. When professionals like Aishwarya Rai, Lubna Adams and Cory Walia have been "on her case" for years. "It was just after Aishwarya had won the crown. She asked me, 'Why haven't we seen you in the contest?' Last year, just as the crowning was taking place at the Femina Miss India contest, Cory turned, pointing his fingers at me - as if to say, 'You, you!'. But I never took it seriously."

But now, that is all she has time for - with photo shoots, tours and preparing for the Miss World 1997 contest. She talks of Nafisa, Femina Miss India-Universe 1997, saying, "She has to go for the Miss Universe 1997 contest in April. I am luckier. I've got time till November."

Diana plans to put that time to good use. Working on her body, polishing up on world matters and, maybe, just maybe, ride horses and play a few quick rounds of chess! She asks, "What do you think of the idea of us wearing saris for the press conference? We thought it was so neat, really!" A statement of their intense pride in being Indian women.

Fully aware of what her crown entails, she says, "I know I have a great responsibility. That of maintaining the respect the world has for India intact, to keep India on the world map - and bring back the Miss World 1997 crown!"

And win more adulation. Not that she doesn't have her fair share now (and a lot of it male). "Yeah, well, you know, it is just like I used to advise Mehnaz and Anaida - keep your cool, people are bound to be attracted to you for what you are. It is just a matter of using all my advice on myself!"

You would never know it, but beneath that confident smile flutter a thousand butterflies every time Diana goes on stage. Elvis Presley had once said, "Every time I have to go on show, I want to turn and run!" According to Diana, the antidote is simple: Relax. Take a deep breath. Keep your wits about you. "And all the while I'm saying this, I'm like, 'Who're you kidding?' But once you're on stage, you get used to the feel of a thousand eyes staring at you, judging you, waiting for you to trip...!"

That she definitely won't. Not Diana. And if she has any fears, she will just go ahead and make a deal - with someone, anyone!