Best work moment
Can’t choose between meeting Azzedine Alaia in his studio or having Claude Montana on my front row. Both are my mentors in absentia
Books on your bedside table
The Fountainhead, The Alchemist and Kafka on the Shore
To de-stress: massage or workout?
Definitely a workout
Designs that recently caught your eye
The endless possibilities of architect Zaha Hadid
Your IT tools
iPhone and iPad
Favourite fashion designer
Azzedine Alaia
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Favourite spirit
Ketel One vodka
Favourite wine
Annie’s Lane Shiraz, from Adelaide, Australia
Your sleeping ritual
Put my head on the pillow
Favourite TV show
The Graham Norton Show on BBC Entertainment
Best gift received
A set of oil paints, brushes, easel and canvas to set me off in a new direction
Best gift given
Mentoring students, and teaching
Favourite cuisine
Sashimi with sochu
Your cologne
109 Bjorn Borg
Newspapers, TV channels and websites you like
The Times of India, International Herald Tribune, Comedy Central, the Flipboard app on the iPhone, Spotify for music and BBC and Hint magazine on the Net
Food items you like to shop for
Chocolate
When being driven, where do you like to sit: up front with the driver or in the back seat like a sahib?
Long drives on the front seat and back seat, left corner for short city drives
On a plane: network, sleep or catch up on films and reading?
Sleep and catch up on movies
Fancy coffee or masala tea?
Earl Grey. Love the Bergamot
Can you cook?
Yes, omelettes
Do you ever fill out customer feedback forms?
Never. Don’t know if anybody is listening
Are you a beach or a mountain person?
Body for the beach, and brains for the mountain
You get your suits from...
Narendra Kumar
Your shaving mantra
Permanent half-a-day stubble
Your bathing preferences: shower, tub or bucket?
Shower
Your weekday breakfast
Cereal, egg, fruit and protein
Your weekend breakfast
Ditto on Saturday, as I work. And brunch on Sunday
Your current wheels
Honda Civic
In the car: sleep or talk on the cell?
Flipboard app on the cell. A peek into the design world
God for you is…
In my work
Favourite café
Indigo Deli
Favourite restaurant
Wasabi at the Taj
Workday lunch is...
Three rotis and vegetable
Your workout regime
Switch off my phone and give an hour to myself
Your ideal holiday
Discovering a new city on a bicycle with a friend
At parties: talk turkey or make PC?
Pick a subject for the evening
A few of your goddesses
Isabella Rossilini, Nastassja Kinski, Christy Turlington and Madhubala
Alpha males you know
Salman Rushdie and George Clooney
Your favourite motto
Live for what you believe in
Narendra Kumar
Fashion designer