I begin my day with
My wife puts it in the most appropriate way. To quote he verbatim, `He either sleeps at 4 am or wakes up at 4AM.'That's so true for me. I can live my life with five hours of sleep, so if I sleep at 4 ? I am likely to head to the office at about 11 ? but if I get up at 4 then it's me and my Apple. That's the time to finish up all the work before going to office. Most people in my team are used to getting mails from me at 5 am.

Workouts
An absolute must ? need this to recalibrate my system on a daily basis ? varies from Squash at `The Club', Yoga at home with an instructor, Walk on the Lokhandwala Track or Pumping Iron at Sykz. If there is no time for any of this, then just me and my skipping rope in the building compound. My workouts keep me physically fit as well as mentally agile. I feel extremely dull on a day when I miss my workouts.

Diet Mantra
Two egg whites for breakfast, simple dal,roti and sabzi - salad from my dabba at lunch, as soup and salad dinner. Changes from this boring diet are General Tsao's Chicken at Mainland China, Brilliant Salads at TGIF, Sumptuous Kebabs at the Garden Grill at The Club, Fantastic Fusion food at Seijo.

Shopping
Usually shopping was something that one did only overseas, but with the new malls in Mumbai, there's no need for that. Shopping is usually for music, books, sports accessories, gizmos and trivia. Since I am extremely indifferent to `brands'? my clothes are usually from anywhere ? as long as I am comfortable in them, for the rare occasions of formal wear Gabbana manages to rustle up stuff for me.

Travel Destinations
I love traveling. Usually, I take off at least thrice a year. Sometimes it's a business tour or sometimes it's with family and friends. But given a chance I would love to take off at least ten times in a year. I feel traveling gives me the best opportunity to broaden my horizons and meet people, also make friends with the locals. Traveling in Europe is most fun because of the ease of travel and great connectivity. Great holidays in the past sometime have been Cinque Terre / Portofino on the Italian Riviera with a bunch of European friends, a wedding of a close friend in small wine village in the South of France called Bezeirs, the fast track in Barcelona and Manhattan, Single Malt Trail across Scotland.

My all time favorite city is Paris. Great walks, tons to soak in culturally, interesting people to meet. London is another fantastic city with a great buzz. Since I have a lot of friends and work associates in both cities there's always something new to do.

The travel bug bites again and this time I'm headed to New Zealand. My friends from there who are doing the organizing threaten to make me camp on a volcano top.

The Carnival in Rio and the Oktoberfest in Munich are still on the agenda.

Gadgets & Gizmos
Whereas my friends, associates and family have dubbed me as the `Gizmo Freak', I do believe that Gizmos are not an obsession, finding the right gizmos is the real obsession. What started as digital diaries and graduates to PDA + Mobile Phones are a great business tool and have always interested me as they support my fetish for being organized. The Palm has been a friend for a long time but my new friend is the Sony Ericsson P 910i.

Photography is always been a hobby, so photography related gizmos are always a part of the endless search.

My most trustable companion remains Mac Power Book, the custodian of all my work, my music, my photographs, my life ? and extensions of the same from the King of perfection Steve Jobs like the I Pod, I Shuffle. God bless Steve Jobs, without him the world would have collapsed into a window of mediocrity.

Stress busters
Workouts are the greatest Stress Busters. A game of rough squash at the end of the day can calm all jangled nerves especially if the experience is topped up with some fine Pinot or Malt.

Parties
Meeting friends, sharing a beer, jokes, general abandon and no shoptalk. All time stress buster. Great places and usual haunts are Olive, Seijo, Zenzei, Myst, The Bar at The Club.

Music
Another stress buster of all times. My tiny little iPod manages to isolate me into my own paradise whenever I need the disconnect. My music is a complete mish mash of all sorts, lot of latest and old Hindi Film music to all kinds of World Music, to a little bit of Jazz to the All time Greats like The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Lobo, Al Jarreau, Floyd, Doors, Rolling Stones, Al Stewart, Alan Parson, Joel, Dylan, Elton John, Joe Cocker, Abba and all of it. My entire collections is about 12,000 songs so that pretty much encompasses everything.

Photography
My Nikon and me are constant companions. Quite often I'll just step off the car and walk around the city shooting pictures. My current Diva is my 6-year-old daughter. She loves to pose for the camera is a real delight to shoot. My IPhoto must be carrying more than a thousand great pictures of her.

Watching Movies
Websites like the IMDB allow you to choose what you want to see. I spend a lot of time finding out what I want to see before I see it. Following the work of great directors is a great route to take. Recommendations from friends you trust and another route. Some great films I have seen in the recent past are Cinderalla Man, Sideways, The Pianist, Ray, Closer. Some of my all time favourites are Hurricane, I am Sam, What's Up Doc, The Party. A director whom I follow blindly is Woody Allen, he's and addiction, I wish he made more films.

Hindi films are great fun too, the best in recent times have been made by friends Munna bhai Raju Hirani and Iqbal by Nagesh. Sanjay Leela Bhansali is another director who's work I really admire.

Reading
There was a time when I devoured fiction. Read Chase, Wallace, Sheldon, Harold Robbins, Jeffrey Archer and the whole lot, but now reading has almost got limited to happening is the world of Film and Television.

The core of our business hangs on innovation. Changes in Technology will control the future of the business. It is also a part of the business that I love, so a lot of time is spent reading and learning about innovations across the world from magazines, manuals or websites. Magazines like the American Cinematographer form a very important part of this nutrition.

Family Time
Shut off the mobile, switch off the laptop. Sharing music with my 18-year-old son, hearing his views on life ? immaculate. Hearing my 6-year-old daughter recite some stuff she's going to perform on stage in school ? divine. Hearing my 19 year old wife telling my how to live my life ? ultimate divinity. (19 year old wife, because our marriage is 19 year old.)

Favourite car
I am not a very materialistic person. I feel the better off you are, the less you have. I drive the Honda Accord which is functional as well as spacious.

Life Mantra
I've been there, done that. I believe in destiny and luck. There are tons of people who are working hard but don't make it. I believe in being happy and adding value to peoples' lives

Religion
I have my own self styled religion that I follow. Worship in the traditional sense is not a part of this religion. The genesis of the thought process is from the Bhagvad Gita. The religion is really about being happy and spreading this happiness to everyone who you touch. A lot complex processes and disciplines have brought me to this rather simplistic approach. It works for me.