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.

"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.

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!!!

As we grow, we learn and observe and realize how things change, people change. Sajjad Chunawala, Station head, Fever 104 fm, tells Nidhi Jain what he thinks about the Almighty.

By birth
I am a Sunni Muslim.I do not believe God as a universal creator, I do not believe him as a supreme being but I believe that God is Conscience. It's a fundamental for me - if we do something wrong, and something inside tells that we indeed did something incorrect or unethical, then that means you believe in God, and if we do something wrong without having a guilt pang then there is no belief that exists.

My wife is British and Jewish. I got married in three different ways - British wedding, court wedding and a nikaah. Many people told me to change my wife's name. I just do not believe in that at all. She was happy to have nikkah but we both feel that religion and God is a very personal thing, one should not impose it on others.

I believe God is conscience. If you hurt people personally or professionally and you think you can get away with it internally then the belief in a Supreme being does not exist. I can detect people who lie.

Religion
I pray once a week mostly on Fridays. Its an auspicious day for our religion. Sometimes I skip because of time constraints but I do it for internal peace. There are people who use their religion to support violence; I guess this is the norm for every religion. Islam does not justify violence. Muslims are a very peace-loving people.

Religion enables us to ignore nothingness and get on with the job of life. -- John Updike

Values
Values are simple, as life in itself is very simple. We complicate it ourselves. I like to approach my personal life and my professionally life rationally. I have this "no bullshitting" poster in my office. I first try to understand the core problem. If you do not back what you stand for then it's not a worthwhile value system. When I joined my company, at the inaugural session what I said was that I cannot tolerate politics or back biting. I want to have a non-political environment around me.

Belief
I only believe in people, their ideas, giving them enough responsibility, trust, authority to delegate well. I have risen up the ladder the hard way and I realize that we cannot do anything on our own. It is not possible. We have to be peoples' person.

No religion is a true religion that does not make men tingle to their finger tips with a sense of infinite hazard.--William Ernest Hocking

Rituals
Nothing in particular but I go to the mosque, love the food during Ramzaan, play Holi, cerebrate Diwali and also celebrate the Jewish festivals. They all are not rituals but celebrations.

Spiritual guidance
Very internal and very personal, I strongly believe in conscience.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.--Seneca the Younger

Positive thinking
Always. There will always be problems, there will be things that will go wrong, there will be bad days, good days...We should learn to fix problems by not overreacting or losing our heads.

Relaxing spiritually
For me it is basically calming the mind. I have done vipassana. We have to give a perspective to life.

Are you Destiny's child?
I believe life is what we make it.
If triangles had a God, He'd have three sides.--Yiddish

There's a great hustle bustle of activity at the Sony office while it's raining cats and dogs outside. It looks like it's been a day of hectic meetings, creative brainstorming sessions for Tarun Katial, Business Head Sony. As I enter his cabin, his cell phone keeps beeping incessantly; as Katial is busying sending off that `one last mail for the day.'

Yet, there's not a hint of being stressed out at the end of the day; in fact he looks pretty calm, composed and totally in charge of himself.

"Television is as stressful as any other profession really," he declares nonchalantly. "And what keeps me through the day is that I take a very detached attitude towards life in general."

That perhaps sets the whole tone of the conversation, as we settle down for a tete-e-tete. And during the course of the conversation Katial reveals a rather spiritual side to his personality.

He reveals, "I did a course in Vipassana, an ancient form of meditation a few years ago which sort of transformed my life in very many ways. Now, I not only practice it everyday but recommend it to many people within the television industry."

For those uninitiated, Vipassana is an ancient technique of meditation and helps in self transformation through self observation.

Though slightly reluctant to talk further, but after much convincing he expounds his spiritual journey which began when his chips were down.

So, here goes Tarun Katial on Life, Success and Karma.

Vipassana filled a certain vacuum in my life.

It was about two years ago, that Katial discovered his moment of truth He says, " I got into Vipassana a few years ago when I was actually unemployed, so-to-speak or lets say in-between jobs (read between Star & Sony). That was a pretty depressing period of my life which lasted for about five months. I felt totally out of touch with the world and did not meet too many people. There was a certain vacuum in my life. It's like suddenly I realized that without a job or a position you're a nobody.

"But then, it's like life always offers you an opportunity. I used the vacuum as an opportunity to do something new and get on with life. One of my family members actually recommended the course in Igatpuri to me. It sounded like a good retreat from the regular mundane life and I started to get the things I decided to go for it. What I learned from the course, has sort of stayed with me forever.

For those uninitiated, Vipassana is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gautam Buddha more than 2500 years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ill. Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation.

Recalling the experience

Having decided to take the plunge, Katial was off to Igatpuri, all equipped with the basic stuff ( a torch, an umbrella a bed etc) to take on a ten day hibernation.

"There are many who shirk from doing this course since it demands a very high level of discipline. But since it promised inner peace I was all prepared for it. We had to be up early in the morning and meditate for the major part of the day. Another important thing being that one is not allowed to communicate to people around.
It's during the silence is when I began the process of self-evaluation -to differentiate between the good-bad and the ugly. I sort of felt my life going past me from mychildhood. Normally, the wrong things that we do in life are pushed under the carpet but it does manifest in the form of prejudices at a later stage in life. Now my working day begins mostly with Vipassana.

I religiously practice this form of meditation each working day. It sort of sets the tone for the day and leaves me rejuvenated for the day. I've now learned to take life at its face value and leave out the insignificant things in life.

My success is the result of my good karma

I am honestly not too ambitious but just a product of being at the right time and place. Also, I believe my success is really the result of my good karma. I am not really scared of the future or losing it all, since nothing is really permanent in life. It's like a sensation that you feel which will go away after a point of time. I never get too excited with success or get too depressed with failure. So, this attitude sort of keeps me rooted.

On climbing up the corporate ladder

When I ask him but don't you want to be the CEO of a company one day. He says, "no, not really. I would rather retire early and do something like teach at a media school or run an NGO.

I don't claim to read Jack Welsh

I don't claim to read great books. Forget Jack Welsh or any such author. I just stick to simple inspirational books on Buddhism, like the one I am reading now is called, ` The way it is by Ajahn Sumdha and there's another one by Swami Chimayananda - on the Art of living.

In Conversation With Zarina Mehta

"My favourite thing in the world is to sit on a beach (preferably Goa), sip a cup of tea and read a good book. I've read and re-read some of my favourite books doing precisely this!

I make it a point to read on all holidays, or in planes while travelling. Also, Sunday afternoons after a good dhansak lunch (or dimsum at Royal China) my husband Ronnie works on his computer, I sit by my balcony; which looks out on some beautiful trees, with my dog near my feet (snoring away), drink hot tea and catch up on a good book. My idea of happiness!

I probably have over 500-600 books or maybe more. I buy at least 2-3 books a week and read them. In fact, many of them are still lying at my parents' house as there is no space for them in my home! Noone really knows what books I like or buy, since I don't ever lend my books nor do I borrow them. If I'm attached to any objects in this world - it's my books! I can't stand it when people fold the page of their books to serve as a bookmark. It sort of drives me crazy!

My fetish and love for the printed word started when I was eight. Till then I was in the US and studied in an American public school. And when I came to India, many of my relatives sort of found it funny that I couldn't even read or write. To make up for the lost time, I took to reading with a vengeance. Now, I am a self-confessed bookworm."

My favourite books

" I keep away from books on the television industry since that is something that we deal with on a regular basis. My all-time favourite is Tolkein's, Lord of the Rings Trilogy; which I first read when I was 15. And recently I re-read it for the 9th time! It reminds me of the classic Don Quixote story? where a single, ordinary person fights against all odds to rise above the rest. And by far, the outcome is not important as Lord Krishna says in the Bhagwad Geeta. The fact that someone chooses to sacrifice themselves to fight for what is right is the key to this story.

It is, in fact this story which influences me in everything I do. A single person can make the biggest difference. So I believe it's important to try regardless of the consequences. If you succeed, it's wonderful and if you fail, that's alright too - at least you tried. You learnt something. This is why we all are here.

Some other books which I've enjoyed reading are Milan Kundera's - The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Gabriel Garcia Marquez's, Love in the time of Cholera; and more recently Kurban Said's Ali and Nino is another masterpiece. These books explore the various shades of a man-woman relationship.

Some other authors I love are Amy Tan and Chitra Dwarka Banerjee, who have written some beautiful stories about women bonding; about the subtle yet strong relationships hey share.

Vikram Chandra's Love and Longing in Bombay and Rohington Mistry's A Fine Balance, possibly the most exquisitely depressing book ever written. On a totally different track, I love books on Maths and Science and I've read all the Time & Life books from cover to cover! I remember reading another off-beat & fascinating book called The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav which is about the beauty of physics!

Currently, I am reading...

As of now, I am reading Swami Vivekananda's entire work. He is the most brilliant mind I've come across.His thoughts are a great source of knowledge and hope for all of us. I wish practitioners of today's so-called `Hindutva' read his books to understand the true meaning of Hinduism. I think, it's the most beautiful, tolerant and all-encompassing of philosophies. I am also onto another fascinating book by Thomas Friedman called The World is Flat. It clearly tells us that the future belongs to India and China."