LPO: a day in the life of Dhiraj Merchant

6:30 am: Wife wakes him up. 7:00 to 7:45 am: Walks on Marine Drive (five days a week) 7:45 to 8:15 am: Showers and gets dressed for work 8:15 am: Eats breakfast of omelette-toast, upma, or poha. Reads the newspaper alongside 8:30 am: Leaves for work. Thrice-a-week, drives down to work in his Santro. On the remaining days, he opts for public transport. 9:00 am: Reaches office 9:00 am to 10:00 am: Review emails, prioritises them and prepares the schedules for the day 10:00 am to 11:00 am: Replies to emails 11:00 am to 1:00 pm: Reviews orders and case files. Assigns work to the team. Reviews the team's first draft, asks for re-drafting or revisions. Reviews the final draft and sends it across to the either the client directly or the Chicago-based head office. Also, conducts and assesses tests for prospective candidates as well as conducts interviews. 1:00 to 1:30 pm: Has lunch comprising roti-sabji packed from home. 1:30 to 2:00 pm: Steps out for tea with colleagues and discusses work, personal lives. 2 pm to 6 pm: Prepares proposals for new projects and makes conference calls to the operations manager. Also attends meetings related to HR, for instance, what colleges need to be covered for placements, etc. 4:30 pm: Takes a five-minute tea break 6 pm to 7 pm: Makes conference calls to clients as well as head office in Chicago on project status. In addition, makes internal calls to other managers if a new or prospective client is visiting Mumbai. 7:15 pm: Leaves office 8 pm to 8:30 pm: Reaches home and freshens up 8:30 pm: Has dinner 9 pm to 11:30 pm: Spends time with family. Watches news and sports. Plays with nephew on the play-station or cricket on the computer, surfing the Internet. 11.30 pm: Hits the bed.