One look at her and you would pooh-pooh the fact that she is mother of a teenage daughter! One of the most prominent figures within India?s luxury retail circle, this gorgeous Bengali lass is the epitome of elegance and class, as is the company she represents. Meet Christian Dior Couture India vice-president, marketing and communications Kalyani Chawla.

Also donning the hat of Dior's social brand ambassador in India, Kalyani exudes an air of confidence. In a t?te-?-t?te with Indiantelevision.com?s RITWIKA GUPTA, she speaks about her family, online shopping and the perks of being the brand ambassador of an international label.

How has your journey been so far in the industry?

Nine years in this industry and I can say that it has been challenging but extremely rewarding. Dior is a serious contender in this nascent market, investing in the opportunity for immense growth, which we believe exists in the near future. The resources, which are at hand for me to invest in marketing, are unique as no other brand in India does that. This only helps to take this brand to international standards.

How do you keep a work-life balance?

My 15-year-old daughter is in boarding school but comes home often enough, which is when we bond. But I have a focused 10 am to 6 pm day, which really extends to 10 am to 8 pm most of times and on weekends too. Socializing and attending events is an integral part of my work too. So, it?s a great balance, which I think I?ve managed well!

How do you relax?

Massages are my biggest indulgence. I also love reading. Both these activities are so time consuming but the most relaxing.

Where do you draw your energy?

I meditate everyday, which is what keeps me focused.

Who are your favourite authors?

I love South American and Japanese authors particularly. Amongst the Indian authors, I adore Jhumpa Lahiri for her sensitivity and Calcutta settings, which I relate to. I like Firdaus Kanga for his dark humour and Rohinton Mistry's A Fine Balance completely shook my ground.

What kind of films do you love watching?

I love Woody Allen for his brilliance, Anurag Kashyap for his genre and Karan Johar for his late 80s type of movies, which we still laugh and weep over.

How would you define your personal style?

With a growing teenager, I am bending towards classic now but intrinsically with a twist! In terms of brands, I go for what suits me and what is age appropriate. More than being brand focused, I dress up according to the occasion.

Where are your favourite places to shop?

I love high street shopping. I have my best pieces from the high streets, which are always such great value for money and style! I also shop online from international websites but you land up paying more tax. There are great online shopping opportunities available in India like rocknshop.com, which offers an EMI option and hence you do not feel the pinch? to an extent! 

What would be an ideal weekend escapade?

Any beach is great for me...I am a complete beach bum!

Do you have a daily beauty regime?

I have been blessed with great genes. So, I don?t really feel the need to follow any regime. I am a typical lazy Bengali and a good moisturizer for day and night is all that I am regular with.

Who are the biggest influences in your life?

My greatest influences have been my two sets of grandparents. They have defined my character, my drive, my interests and who I am today. My motivation is my daughter, Tahira Tara Chawla, who keeps me focused. I want to provide the best for her and give her the best education. To be able to afford that, I need to be successful in my field of work.

Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

I live for the present and try to make the best of it. Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. The future is unpredictable but we have to be prepared. That is the key.

On the first episode of Talking Point with Ritwika Gupta, the Managing Director & CEO of Rajshri Entertainment, Rajjat Barjatya shares what it feels like to be a part of such an illustrious lineage and admits that Maine Pyar Kiya is his all time favourite Rajshri film. As the youngest member of a family that is deep rooted in Indian entertainment since 1947, Rajjat Barjatya has given the business a new dimension by tapping a global audience on digitally connected devices through web and mobile platforms. "If you can think it, you can achieve it" - that is the philosophy of the man who is a leukemia survivor himself. In this episode, Rajjat tells us how his family is his pillar of strength and his kids are his biggest stress busters.

By Ritwika Gupta

Responsible for the overall sports business, Ten Sports CEO Rajesh Sethi admits to being a complete food junkie. Sharing some of his memorable travel experiences, he gives us a glimpse into how he juggles multiple roles in life. Taking a brief breather between his hectic work and travel schedule, Sethi speaks to Indiantelevision.com?s RITWIKA GUPTA about his career, favourite films, travel essentials and more.

Tell us about your journey as a professional in the industry.

I?ve had a thoroughly enjoyable journey as a professional in this industry. Coming from the retail finance and insurance background, my ideologies were different. I have been successful in trying to implement learnings from my past jobs and in turn giving some structure to this industry. Some of the major challenges I?ve faced have been using my entrepreneurial approach to introduce a processed work flow. At the same time, my incentives are that I have been able to watch few of the best sporting events in the world right from WWE to UEFA Champions League.

 What kind of developments have you seen over the past decade or so?

The major change over the last decade has definitely been the emergence of the digital age. We can clearly see consumers? acceptance on this and have seen them transitioning from a traditional brick and mortar era to the click era.

 Which part of your job do you enjoy the most?

I enjoy the opportunity of working with varied people from diverse backgrounds. It is a hyper competitive environment entwined with some complex regulations in place. It has been truly challenging and very enjoyable.

 How do you manage to balance your role as a CEO and a family person?

If you enjoy what you are doing, it is very easy to align personal and professional priorities. I have had no difficulties balancing my personal and professional life.

How do you relax?

I have diverse interests. I spend considerable time reading and watching documentaries on different subjects. I also love spending time with my kids and my dog. I am a voracious reader and I read varied genres. Currently, I am reading the book World Order by Henry Kissinger. It is about history, strategy and statecraft.

Which is that one book you have read over and over again?

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is one book that I have read multiple times.

Do you like watching films? Which are your favourite movies?

I am not too much of a movie buff and seldom go out for movies. I do watch a lot of documentaries though. My favourite movies include ? The Bucket List, Shawshank Redemption, 7 Years in Tibet, Gladiator and 3 Idiots.

What is your idea of a perfect weekend getaway?

Short treks to nearby hills. Living in Delhi, there are opportunities for wonderful drives and short treks in the vicinity. I enjoy my serendipitous moments in the lap of nature along with my family.

 Which is your favourite holiday destination?

Anywhere in the Himalayas!

 What are the 5 most essential items you always carry on a trip abroad?

1. iPod
2. Kindle
3. Running gear
4. A collection of ties and cufflinks
5. An Evening Jacket

Do you have a memorable travel experience?

My memorable travel experience was my journey to the Chamonix Valley in south-eastern France, conquering the river of ice. I was meeting my college mates after a long time and the adventures we experienced while holidaying in Chamonix were inexplicable and very special.

Are you fond of latest gadgets?

Though I may sound traditional, my favorite tech gadget currently is my Mac Air.

What is your favourite cuisine?

While I love my paranthas, I equally relish South Indian food.  My favorite restaurant would be any authentic South Indian joint.

How important are awards, appreciation and recognition to you?

These are fundamental human needs. All of us respond to appreciation expressed through recognition because it endorses that you are being valued.

In conversation with R.D. Tailang, Script Writer

My growing up years
I was born and brought up in Mandla which is in Madhya Pradesh. A small village from where we had to walk 20 kms to reach the main road. Since, my father was in the service class we led a very simple life. So, basically, half of my life was spent in a place which did not bear roads, and the second half, in a place like Mumbai, among rushing vehicles, intelligent lights and sets of KBC. It's been 13 years since I've been in this city of dreams.

My big break with KBC
I used to make sketches during my childhood. So, once when I had come to Mumbai for a seven day vacation for the first time and got my sketches along. I decided to try my luck at a newspaper office. I went to an afternoon paper called Dopeher, just entered the editor's cabin to show my artistic work. Within no time he offered me a job, and I willingly took up the proposal. I joined them as a cartoonist and later shifted to hard core journalism. I worked on various beats like crime, sports, film reviewing and even interviewing celebrities.

Later, I joined Plus Channel with Mahesh Bhatt and Amit Khanna. And from then on, there was no looking back. I soon realized that writing was a good field and maybe I could carve a niche in it. My first big assignment came with Farida Jalal's Star Yaar Kalakar and then Shekhar Suman's Movers and Shakers happened.

The big break came with KBC. Writing for Bachchanji has been an awesome experience. I've worked for him for two years and have written 350 episodes for him. Writing for Bachchanji at the beginning of his career is the biggest award a writer can get. It gives me the same feeling an actor would get on receiving an Oscar.

I begin my day
Sleep is a must for me. It's like; if possible, I can sleep for 12 hours at a stretch. Normally I get up at around 10 or sometimes even 11. Then, I literally lick the newspaper for say 3 odd hours. It is a must for me. Now there is no time for breakfast so I land up eating my lunch. I am very lazy at times so I prefer to rest for a while after that.

Exercise mantra
Sleeping is really my passion. Even if I try I just cannot get up early in the morning.. Some of my friends do try to influence me to stick to a regime, but then after a few days it's back to square one. So, it's me and my dear bed again.

Diet Mantra
I am a strict vegetarian; no eggs, no onion and in fact at my mother's place, we are not even allowed to bring garlic. I am not a real foodie. I don't follow any kind of diet mantra, at any point in time. It's just not my cup of tea. Instead, whenever am upset or annoyed, my wife knows which string to pull. It's rice with tomato sabzi.

To dine out we love going to Yokos, or grab a pizza at Pizza Hut. And though I am not a Gujarati , I love the Gujarati thali at Rajdhani.

Shopping
I hate shopping but my wife loves it. It's like if I have to purchase a shirt and if I happen to like a belt too, I will return home with the shirt and go for the belt the next time. I hate window shopping. I am not at all brand conscious but I am definitely quality conscious. We normally shop at Inorbit, as it is very close to our place or else from Infinity in Andheri (W).

Gizmos and Gadgets
I won't call myself a gizmo freak, but yes, I can call myself as an extremely advanced writer.I am technically very sound. I have a blue tooth attached to my computer, my printer and my mobile phone. I do all my editing work on my advanced computer; right from editing clips to making my own ring tones.

I possess a Nokia 6062 and an Ipod, and very shortly I plan to buy a plasma for myself. My car is fully equipped with a DVD player and a monitor.

Religion
I have been very lucky in my life. It's like, if my life is a journey by car then I am sure that God is on the driving seat. I believe in the almighty. He has always been on my side right from the very beginning. Everything happened in my life rather unexpectedly. I thank God for all this..

Favourite car
I drive a Scorpio. I just love my car. It's spacious and we love going for long drives in it.

Reading
To be very frank, I hate reading thick books and novels. Just a look at them makes me perspire. I am happy being a script writer and I don't think I have any qualities of a writer. But I make it a point to religiously read all regional newspapers. It's an essential part of my schedule and helps me connect things better while I am scripting.

Zee Telefilms senior vice president, network marketing, Sita Laxmi Narayan Swamy, in a candid conversation with Indian Television.com's Nidhi Jain.

Top Leadership Mantras

Be good at your work and committed. Integrity and a never say die attitude is a must as well. Being caught up in the circle of whether I am a man or a woman, we tend to spread prejudices that don't exist, and start creating barriers which are not there. I would say to any woman as I did at LSE, that as a woman you have to first learn to dream and then believe in those dreams. Once you do that, it is very easy to overcome obstacles. These glass ceilings do exist the world over. 11 percent of the Fortune 500 companies constitute women entrepreneurs who are millionaires today.

Do Looks Count

Personally I believe that one should not go by precedence. A woman has to learn to be her own example. I may be petite. There is no mistaking the fact that I enjoy being feminine, enjoy my looks and what I wear. The truth of the matter is that the world and especially in the corporate domain, they look at you first and later check what you do. But that would only happen the first time round. Once you earn their respect, it really doesn't matter. There is still a chance for biases. I can't pretend that it doesn't exist. The idea should be for every capable woman to say that "I am a shining light" and not use gender as an excuse but rather as a motto to reshape.

A Method to the Madness

Firstly, I believe that there should be a method to the madness. Some amount of chaos is good because we live in a very dynamic world. A decade ago things were different.

Today change is a constant. It may be a clich? but we have to reinvent ourselves as individuals, organizations and brands. That is the only way to make sure consumer loyalty is maintained.

Take a look at the biggest brands we have today - whether it's the technology brands like Google, Myspace or Vertu; not only are they generating revenue but they also make sure that consumers keep coming back for more. Brands which have unwiring attachments and engagement with consumers are dynamic brands. The consumer is living in a dynamic world and the market is dynamic as well. As a result we need to have dynamic organizations which are a challenge. It maybe chaotic, but if we set a basic system in place firmly and have a brand parameter, not just as an old fashioned word but as a live example, it is possible. Words can be reinvented with passing time. Essential cores though do not change; brands with value and virtue can redefine product performance .So every madness has a method. It may sound erratic but if madness and chaos don't exist, there is a big danger that my world will become stagnant. Also, the feeling that you are in the thick of all the action gives me a huge high.

Inspiration to succeed

A question with a kick? I will not lie, since I am a blunt person, that I was very fortunate to have a woman as my first boss. She is no longer in advertising though. She made sure that I started out as a very strong personality. I think that a woman boss who is good at her work has a very fine mind and has no gender compunctions. Again, there is no such thing as nice or bad boss. That I think is a standard amateur definition. I think there are bosses that you can learn from and bosses that don't teach you anything. I am willing to deal with them no matter what. But I would rather deal with people who are themselves rather than people who pretend.

I have no problems with people who are difficult, though as long as they are who they are and earn respect through their work and can bring something to the organization. My boss was very good at her job, she influenced the part of a leader in me. She was my mentor in that respect.

All my men bosses that I worked with respected women when it came to work. They expected the world of me, they gave me the world of trust. Both men and women I worked with have shaped me.

The other parts of my life like painting fortunately, have not had to take a backseat either. I never had a compartmentalised life. The fortunate part is when you work in advertising /media/entertainment field you are surrounded by creative people. So far it's been very encouraging.

A Way of Life

Work has always been a huge part of my life. I am aware of the fact that I go to work every morning and it consumes a lot of my life. But it also ensures we develop bonds beyond work. In terms of work I believe to get the basic hygiene out, system functioning (laughs?). We need to focus on time for adding value. I am not a happy shiny person in a sense that I can't crack jokes in 10 minutes. Though I always have a song in my heart, wake up listening to songs and take time out to listen to my inner voice. I believe that this lifetime is a gift and failures and depression will be constantly encountered here. To me it's always about having another chance. If you believe that every failure or shortcoming has a gift for you in hand, you won't look back. Courage can be given to people when you don't forget the bad times. According to my dad, who was an army man, one must take defeat as a badge of honor because it will give you courage to go forward.

Likewise when I paint there is no depression.

The Changing rules of work

With the changing rules of work, perhaps it's very scary thing for work and organizations themselves. We are moving from the age of information to the age of ideas. Today, at the age of information and outsourcing, if we have great ideas we don't need 100 people, just a couple of people who believe in that idea. Its not the era of talking, it's the era of doing. It's important to believe in your dreams. Talent management becomes important. Rules are changing quickly, there are no fixed ones. It's the age of instinct, bravery and courage.

Ensuring the team delivers

You need to have a set of bright individuals to begin with. I grew up the ranks to become a leader. It is to be remembered that a team is not a wall with whitewash. Allow people to play to their strengths. Don't expect everything to be the same. This should be recognized to get incremental growth and happy individuals. Do encourage studies and get scholarships. Challenges will keep them constantly excited to outperform themselves.

Lessons Learnt

Now I have worked for 20 years, there have been lots of lessons learnt along the way. But the most important one - Being a woman, I can say gender doesn't really matter in the long run.

Business is fun

Every day is full of surprises. There is no script we are playing to, there are no rehearsals. Today, media is constantly changing, you can't over intellectualize, meet success and failure in the eye, don't brush it away.

The main characteristics of effective leadership are intelligence, integrity or loyalty, mystique, humor, discipline, courage, self sufficiency and confidence.-James L. Fisher. Fits perfectly into the bill is Shailendra Singh's, Joint managing director, Percept Holdings. Making of leader unfolds his experiences to Nidhi Jain.

Lessons learnt so far

The ultimate lesson I learnt,when I plunged into business was not to trust anybody, but the only way I want to do business is by trusting people, the only way I get satisfied is when one loose. I trust everybody blindly and have great time doing and that also means, one should use skills to safeguard interest.
Secondly, the most crucial thing is never say die spirit, everybody has that but I think in Harry and me both brothers have in the blood stream, courtesy our lifestyles, we are very sporting people ,and in a sport one always have a spirit when it's known that in the last ball the game can turn, even if its four sets down or three, in a big game one can come to five set tie breaker if one is an athlete and the mind is also used like one ,in that case one fight that last minute helps in business. If one loose one is sporting instead of brooding and crying is a fantastic lesson to learn in business.
Third thing is a strategy of being an underdog. I like to strike from the back. People most least except is when one should succeed. It's focus more on the product and realities than the packaging.

Method of pacifying madness

I try and most of the time-manage to have a good time of what I am doing. My entire thought process is the journey we are living, one must enjoy because destination is unknown we all might land up in ICU.People around me like wannabes, achievers all seem to be running towards some destination, they don't have a clue where it is .We must give it our best and use all the skills! Try having a good time doing it and that mountain of a task look like nothing. If it goes with the flow, we don't realize what we have pulled off. That's what I do in anything I lay my hands on. There's no task which is impossible, there is no agenda which is boring, there is no meeting with a pressure therefore I don't come to work. Live life in a manner it's meant to be lived .I am not here to survive I see 99% people surviving in Mumbai?we should live it.

People that influenced

My dad for his discipline, never say die spirit, my brother for his wisdom. I have looked up to athletes like Kapil Dev, my best friend, a great opportunity to look up to an athlete to be your friend. I look up to Michael Douglas as an actor, for his entire persona, his personality, he is a fantastic orator. A person like Sylvester Stallone was very high level of inspiration to me for his movie, Rocky. We aware that he is going out win in round 13 but we watch all 13 rounds, to know what's going to happen next .I haven't found an icon who gets me going because most of the people I have seen are not complete achievers if the business is very rich, they are unhappy. An athlete like Borris Becker is whom I turned on by. They are business models; one man show conduct in industry. I try translating that into business.

Strategic alliance

Everything is a game. Both I and Harry who runs the business have different perspective and whole thing is a game .Game means strategy, game, passion, plan and the end should be victory. That's how I plan my moves .Ingredients, which is same in business and sports is- passion. If we don't have the passion, it's better don't do it .I try bring all that strategy of sports into business that helps our organization to be healthy, sporting and fun loving.

Changing rules of work
The philosophy of Percept is -the only constant is change, we should listen, understand with a difference, what entire country is witnessing in an accelerated manner now. Every moment of our life, lifestyles, TV, technology, sexual/physical habits, food have changed, that's life. We mark a change.

Ensuring that team delivers
We have got in our old set of rules. I am very lunatic, if we don't challenge ourselves how can we challenge the system, if push comes to me I make sure I do it. I get inspired by Lance Armstrong, a simple person with normal body and great work .It's all about making mind. I add every new thing to my life which excites me. I set targets for my team that they can deliver, it's important you set a reasonable target. It's no point asking Harbajan Singh to bat, he is a good baler, should only ball .Likewise, it's important to know the potential of the executive. Get the best within his means and set a target, also show him the path. One has to stop being a dictator and demand Rome. Give him an army of half a billion soldiers with arms and ammunition.
With credentials of Percept, we show executive the path to achieve target then we let them be independent, interference is not fair way. We supervise that path periodically to ensure that we are running the right direction.

Fun part of your business
Fun part are relationships, we are fortunate that to be in the business were in any point of time have 6000 global relationships we maintain, that's the key factor. My business arouse me to meet people, talk to them exchange views and have fun.

I am never short of energy, without gas we can't drive a car, by God's grace I maintain a decent health, a routine where I don't like to sleep more than four hours. The focus, if energy is distributed in wrong directions it's wasted. I know where I am heading, I have 40 odd different meetings in a day, but I still put energy and focus into each meeting the way its required. I know what I want.