I begin my day
Mornings are usually very rushed. I live at Andheri (a suburb in Mumbai) Lokhandwala Complex which is pretty far from my office. Since I spent the whole day at work; in the mornings I try to play with my four year old daughter Mahek. Me and my wife get Mahek ready for school, after which we go for a walk at the nearby park.
After brisk walking I practice a little bit of kriya yoga, which I've picked up from my mother. But I must confess, I am trying to be more regular with my routines.

My diet mantra
I don't follow a strict diet. It's a very simple diet mantra and that is eat healthy and avoid all spicy Indian food. My breakfast is mostly some fruits and milk and I don't carry my lunch. I just grab something at the office canteen which is pretty palatable. To dine out I prefer either Mahesh Lunch Home in Juhu/ South Mumbai or Mainland China.

Shopping
I don't really shop much. And whenever I go shopping, I make it a point never to go alone. Because it's all about getting a nod from my wife. Most of the time I stick to what my wife selects for me. We mostly shop at the malls and I amongst all the brands I stick to Allen Solly which is pretty good.

Travel Destination
I think India is a beautiful country. And each time we go for a holiday it's like rediscovering our country all over again. I had gone to Kerala recently and I still can't forget the breathtaking sights of the backwater expanse consisting of canals and coconut groves.

I like to visit hills, archeological places and beaches. I hate going to sanctuaries, especially in Orissa, that's where I belong. Weekend traveling is also fun. I often refer to the weekend destination books to plan my weekend getaways. We love going to Lonavala, Igatpuri and Matheran.

Traveling abroad doesn't happen too often. Had traveled to Singapore recently.

Relaxing Mantra
Broadly speaking, our work is not as stressful as people make it out to be. It's as stressful as any other profession. Spending time with my family is always a great stress buster.

Gadgets and Gizmos
Love the latest in mobile phones, stereos (especially like the ones which are assembled with the best of components from different manufacturers), digital cameras and camcorders.
Recently bought a Nokia 6670 and a Kodak 5 Megapixels, 10X Zoom camera that also shoots motion.

On Books
Have the urge to catch up on a lot of reading, though time seems to be in short supply always. Beyond catching up with the everyday newspapers and some favourite columns in the Sunday newspapers, I recently read a book 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell. The book takes everyday life instances to illustrate concepts that can benefit all of us, especially marketing professionals like us. I also quite liked reading Robin Sharma's The Monk who sold his Ferrrari. Though I don't quite like the self-help category of books, this one is different. It sort of sets you thinking and motivates you to rediscover things about yourself.

Was browsing through the 1970s classic Future Shock by Alvin Toffler to see how we saw the future then and what really has transpired in the intervening 35 years.

My idea of entertainment
Weekends are usually fun and reserved totally for my family. Since, there are more than four multiplexes just near to where I stay, so for entertainment and relaxation it's movies all the way. Either I like to watch something that is sensible or an out-and-out comedy - nothing of the middle order. Some of the recent films which I enjoyed watching were Salaam Namaste, Hanuman and Bunty aur Babli. And yes, I didn't miss the latest Salman Khan films - No Entry and Maine Pyaar Kyun kiya.

My favourite car
When I was a kid, my dad had a Black Hindustan 14 - an Indianised Ford Austin made by Hindustan Motors (HM), the makers of our good old Ambassador. That really was my first impression of what a car could be and should be - sturdy, mobile, majestic and BLACK.

Things changed and we bought a Premier Padmini, then a Maruti 800 and now I own a Baleno. I feel a car has to be technically good and give you the comfort you deserve. Of course looks matter, but that's not everything.

My favourite car is the stately Mercedes Benz that rules the road. As for now, my Baleno is no less though....

"Rimbaud stopped writing poetry at nineteen? Jesus was crucified at thirty-three; Jack Kennedy was shot?at forty-six. I am twenty-nine years old. What have I done? What am I capable of doing? Who am I? "This is possibly the best line that describes Sasthi Brata's ulterior turmoil.

Story of a boy, a man and the main protagonist of "My God Died Young". Penned in the late 1960s, this autobiography has been immensely popular and successful, largely due to its unassuming style and youthful angst spoke to a whole generation of those times and perhaps does that even today with ?lan and ease.

In this explicit and irreverent autobiography, Sasthi Brata tells his life story, his increasing sense of alienation from his wealthy and extremely conservative Brahmin family, his traumatic experiences at school where the housemaster's moral lessons almost made a psychological wreck of him, his intense love affair with a girl whose parents married her off to the man of their choice, and his agonized search for roots which took him to England. Alternately tender and brutal, he lays bare the shams of tradition-bound society in India as well as in the West with his no-holds-barred honesty and astonishing insight and understanding. -- It was quite difficult back in those times to have raised issues, with a tinge of disgust, like faith and superstition, logic and science, fatalism and the freedom of choice but when I read this masterpiece in the present times I find it so relevant and I cant help but admire the genius of Shasti Brata. With due apologies to most of the contemporary writers, Shasti Brata and My God Died Young is one in a million example of a writer who doesn't have to pretend to be a writer.

"Thanks to the twin pressures of a Brahmin home and a nonconformist upbringing," Brata notes, "Most of the time I move around in the steel braces of subconscious inhibitions." Most Indians will be conversant with this feeling. Indeed, one of the arguments advanced by Brata's book is the extent to which our adult lives are in thrall to conceptions and attitudes formed in childhood. University at Presidency College in Kolkata, and a love of debating, freed him somewhat of these shackles. He studied science, flirted with fashionable Marxist ideas, believed he was a young genius and prophet, fell in love, agonized about religion, and contemplated his place in the world. Later, unhappy in enclosed, stratified India, he moved west, and decided to pursue a path as a writer. Everywhere he found that obstacles to his dreams lay not just in the conventions of society and the shape of his personal destiny - as some people like to believe - but also in something marshy and tortured in his own nature, even more generally human nature.

Brata's confessional language has a powerfully persuasive air. "I hated my family and since I was a part of them, I hated myself too." "My outward actions were frenzied and daring because the inner man was so tame and ordinary." "Even the most genuine emotion [I felt] was centripetal, tending towards myself in the centre, with the other person as an incidental circumference. I don't believe I had any real feelings. I sometimes wonder if I do now." "I move about in a thick viscous cloud, always looking over my shoulder to see if anyone is watching." "I was the shadow of a shadow. It is always hard to build a life on such foundations."

Some of Brata's phrases - fusty Britishisms, and curious analogies to English examples rather than native ones of the kind one can still find in, say, a professor of English in Kolkata - are a mark of his time and place and his education. The old midwife who delivered him "looked as close to the Witches in Macbeth as Shakespeare could have imagined them to be." How could Brata know how Shakespeare had imagined his witches?
My God Died Young culminates in a beautifully realized scene in which Brata, having returned to India for a visit, is persuaded by his parents to "view" a potential bride. Reluctant but also curious, he submits to all the rituals of the arranged-marriage experience, driving to the would-be bride's home with his parents, listening patiently to her father reeling off a list of her achievements, scrutinizing and being scrutinized by the gathered women of the girl's family. He asks the shy, veiled girl a couple of questions in front of the entire company, and hears her sing a song at his mother's request. Despite his reservations he is impressed with, even entranced by, the girl. At the same time the curious scene in which he is the chief player arouses in him a strange horror and repulsion expressed in these beautiful sentences that simultaneously evoke both a burgeoning, thriving life and a kind of moral blindness:
"The girl sat there like a Goddess. And for a moment I felt that no one but a Goddess could have her forbearance, her beauty, the sweet maddening melody of her voice. Restively, my eyes swung round to her, so calm, so removed, so enchantingly graceful like the swift green curves of spring. Then over the rest of those hard deadening faces, severe and resolute, presiding over the closing cries of an auction mart".

Many of my friends call My God Died Young a pensive, cranky book of a writer being both impatient with the hypocrisy of the world and despairing himself. Brata is always asking the question: "Why do we live in this way and not in any other?" This is why I feel reading someone's autobiography is a responsible job. Someone's upbringing may shake your sensibilities and cause a conflict and a war within thus creating minds that do more damage than any good. A word of caution, if you don't have a strong head on equally strong shoulders - just leave the book alone! "I wrote this book to try and understand myself," Shasti Brata says at the beginning (he was not even thirty when he wrote it), and autobiography, he knows, "demands honesty". This is the way every writer of any times must be able to write about his work and when you read that you know he means it. Frankly, I read it (and continue to do so) because I wanted to understand myself.

In Conversation with Anurradha Prasad Managing Director, BAG Films Ltd.

I start my day with

I suffer from a chronic backache so I start my day with yoga and some stretches. Earlier on, I had a trainer coming home every morning but now I just do all the asanas and pranayams on my own. Must say, yoga is also a great stress buster for me.

My diet mantra
I am a vegetarian and prefer food which is low on oil and spices. Breakfast is mostly sprouts, cottage cheese or maybe soyabeans. Prefer to use olive oil in my food which is light on the stomach. Lunch is mostly some soup, followed by dal, roti and sabzi.

Shopping
I am not a very brand conscious person. Also, it's not like I grab things when I see them. I shop whenever I need to. For my western wear I prefer Armani suits. I mostly shop in London for my trousers where I get the right fabric and fitting. As far as Indian clothes go, I get them designed by Ritu Beri and Sapna Chopra.

Don't like very heavy or garish clothes. If I have to go with my husband Rajiv Shukla for a political get-together or a party, I prefer a Indian look with some Zardosi work or a Lucknawi look. When its about my official meeting then I go in for a little classy upmarket look. Whenever, I need something special designed, I just call up my designer friend Sapna Chopra who sends me the right dress and the jewellery to go with it.

Jewellery
Not very fond of gold jewellery. Prefer platinum, Kundan , Polki and Meenakari work.

Travel Destination
I love London and Dubai. Though Dubai is not so much of a tourist destination but everytime I go there I am really amazed at the progress the country has made. I also love exploring Paris and Italy.

Favourite Car Brands
I prefer cars which are spacious and functional. Currently, I drive a Lancer, a Toyota Corolla, Endeavor and Chevrolet Optra.

exec_life/y2k6/eflyer/3april_exec_life.htm
Can't do without my 20GB - ipod digital music player. It carries upto 15,000 songs, so whenever I am on the move I freak out on all the latest Hindi as well as English songs.
I have a great fetish for gadgets and gizmos. In fact, I keep upgrading my handsets all the time.

I am currently using Sony Ericsson - P900 which has a high-quality camera phone, video recording and a good gaming experience. I recently bought a Nokia 6630 which is a portable office and a modern rich media machine. It has video editing, email, web browser with broadband as well as a support enhanced media gallery for storing photos.

I also use Nokia 6680 which has two integrated cameras, video sharing capability, music player with stereo audio. It gives me a convenient email access with automatic download to send images and view documents while I am on the move.

MK Anand, business head, Zoom has an eclectic taste in reading; but draws a sharp line when it comes to books on computer programming and engineering... in a candid chat with Nidhi Jain..

Who introduced you to reading?
My father is an avid reader. He describes his reading appetite as voracious.

Kind of book collection you have
History, Philosophy, Biology and Management.

On favourite authors and well written books
George Williams, Plan and Purpose in Nature. An absolute eye-opener in terms of understanding our motivations. To know why we do what we do. Brilliant Thyucidedes, The History, An account of the Peloponessian wars between Athens and Sparta.

Do you find interesting things in every book, how do you choose books you read?
Yes I do think that every book has something unique to offer. I choose books on instinct.

What do you think of self help books?
Not preferred.

Money and time you spend on books
Lots.

Your reading pace
Never in a hurry. About 40 - 50 pages a day when I am engrossed. Else about 10 pages.

Your first book
Nursery rhymes!! Then Enid Blyton, Franklin W Dixon.

Browsing and e-reading
Mainly Media Economics, for my PhD thesis.

Currently you are reading
Corporate Social Ethics, HBR .

Books that do not hold you
Computer Programming and Engineering books!!!

"I believe in living life to the core. And I derive pleasure from doing simple things in life; be it just cooking up a meal, entertaining guests or just pursuing a game of cricket," says Ravi Rai as we settle down for a brief tete-e-tete. Dressed casually in a simple red T shirt and jeans, Rai welcomes us in his exquisitely done up apartment in Versova that reflects the man behind the veneer. A picture of his younger days adorns the wall, an Egyptian painting and collection of books in the library speak a volume about him.

With his characteristic far-away look, he says, "my study is where I spend a major part of time reading and writing. But, then writing is only one of my passions. My career as a writer, director, producer has really been an accidental journey." And this coming from the man behind subtle serials like Kashish, Sailaab and Thoda hai thode ki zaroorat hai. I have no major ambitions like writing a master piece before dying," he further declares honestly. We wait for more as Rai reveals it all about his life and times.

I've become spiritual in life
"It's a rather mercurial business, sometimes it can put a creative person on a pedestal and the next moment you are out. Though it hurts, but then nothing is permanent in life. I've analysed life and now I've become spiritual in life. I believe in god and destiny. I do not believe in dreaming too big and losing my sleep over it.

Cooking helps me unwind.
Rai is passionate about cooking; so much so that he orders for different masalas like garam masala, nimboo, paani masala and lassi masala from various parts of the country. Recalling his childhood, he says, "As a child I had working parents. So, at the age of nine my father taught me how to cook dal chawal, since it's easy to make and is also a complete meal. So, whoever reached home early would cook for everyone. The habit stayed with me and later even during my struggling days in Mumbai at the age of 20, I used to cook parantha, sabzi , dal, chawal. Cooking helps me unwind

Entertaining friends
Weekends are a time when Rai along with wife Anita love to welcome friends home "It gives me tremendous satisfaction when I see people savour my dishes. We both cook up separate dishes. My Sindhi mutton recipe is a hit amongst all my friends. Anita, who is a Kashmiri, makes very good Italian and Kashmiri food. "

And what are the other preparations he likes to make? "Anything that takes a long time to prepare," he quips. "I love making rajma and channa for that reason. So, does he indulge in day-to-day cooking too? "Of course ! Today I am preparing Chinese for my kids," he announces happily. Rai also tells us that one of his favourite pastime is watching matches with friends when he sometimes loves to surprise them by cooking a dish or two. That brings us to his other passion that is Cricket.

Cricket talk
" I am a member of a team called Upstagers which is led by Mahesh Manjrekar. Some of the other members are Shivaji Satam and Robin Bhatt. We have our practice sessions at he Kalina Ground in the wee hours of morning. Once a year we also go to Ajmer, Bhavnagar and Pune where we play against other teams. Next year I am looking forward to go to Goa to play a match against a team from England," says the 45 year old producer, who also does the treadmill and weights to remain fit.

Traveling
His mobile rings. We take some time to browse in his library where we find several books on travel. Talking about his passion for traveling he says, "I travel a lot with my family. I have a certain connection with Agra for some strange reason. Kerala is another place I love. I have also been to Bangkok many times. We had a good vacation in Seychelles recently. This summer we are planning to do Europe," concludes the simple man who believes in middle class values and derives pleasures out of ordinary things.

One of the most influential business thinker-writers of our time, Tom Peters is back with a quick book on how to develop talent, sell it and be it. In his typical, informal `no-need-to-prepare' style, Peters declares that the new professional era is all about 'renewed individual responsibility'. The author says that in the new economy one cannot count on any job being there for you. What you can find is ways to move yourself along with your company up the value chain and into the heart of the new economy.

Structured into five sections, the chapter on talent is where he rubbishes the long-term association with an organisation as 'cubicle slavery'. To put it in his words, `Lifetime employment at a corporation (cubicle slavery) is out. Life-time self-reinvention is in. The only fool-proof source of job security is your talent. And your talent will express itself by building a scintillating portfolio of `Wow' projects. And to get on with the wow projects one has to think weird as the times demand.

So, it's all about taking responsibility of ones' professional life and taking charge of our own lives. People's professional qualities, not the character that matter now. He writes, " What coporates need is innovative, risk-taking, self sufficient entrepreneurs and not smooth-functioning organisation people," he elaborates.

The author drives home the point by citing the example of his own Wow project. "it was about rebranding my organisation, the Tom Peters Company which took about five years. The Daniel's formula can work the magic: reward excellent failures, Punish mediocre success.

On a lighter vein, Peters likes to call the USA, United States of 'Attitude' and stresses that the key factor to drive talent is attitude. The key to survival really lies in building a brand.