How to balance work, life? Ask Kalpana Morparia

When I have to make a presentation, I put in days of preparations. I have this huge fear, that I'd have to show up in front of an investor and that he'd ask me a question to which I don't have an answer. This fear comes from my days at ICICI Bank. Unlike everybody else who came from a treasury or management background, I trained in law. So in 1996 when Mr Kamath [K.V. Kamath], asked me to look at investor relations, my biggest fear was I'd have to show up in front of an investor and don't know the answer to a question they may have.

In my head, it's very much like what an actor on stage would feel if he forgot his lines. If you're going to fumble, you're being very unfair to your team because you represent them. It's much the same thing when I go to any client meetings. I bug my team like crazy to give me a comprehensive brief. I did that when I was in ICICI and I do that here. I will never go for a meeting unless they have given me a comprehensive briefing. And it's not that I get briefed in the car. I need to have that note in front of me. I'm quite a pain to most of my colleagues.

I travel a fair amount and unlike a lot of corporate executives who complain about travel, I enjoy it. I relax well on the plane. Mr Kamath taught us not to waste time on checked in luggage. So we learnt to travel light because with him there was no way you'd have time to wait for your luggage to arrive if you had checked it in.

I do a lot of speed reading. There are a lot of my colleagues within JP Morgan who share passwords to the email with their secretaries. I said absolutely not. I want everyone to know that everything you send to me is completely confidential they can put what they like on it. Whatever is information, you act on it, the rest you delete. I get very impatient with people who don't respond to emails. It is the easiest thing to do.

I have one secretary who works from 9-6 so I feel somewhat lost when she's not there because I am not used to dealing directly with people. I've led somewhat of a cocooned life in that sense, in my earlier organisation. But I have gotten used to it. So in terms of support I'm fine.

I gym four times a week for about an hour each. That's very refreshing. I switch off completely at home. The only television I watch is the news and Sa Re Ga Ma for the little kids. I'm just very fond of shopping as well. For women, you know, top of the list is clothes. And then as you go on in life, I think jewelry is as big.

(As told to Abhishek Advani)