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

I begin my day with
These days, I start pretty early, that is, around 5.30 am. Getting my son ready for school is my responsibility. Once I send him to school, I steal an hour for a short nap. After the nap, I am off for a walk or a quick session of aerobics. I really don't have the time to visit the gym. Then I quickly get dressed and rush for office. Getting to office takes me around 40 minutes, and during that time I make and receive calls.

My diet regime
I believe, `your first meal should be the heaviest and last one the lightest.' So, I usually start with a wholesome breakfast which is lots of fruits or fresh juice. Sometimes it's an omlette or corn flakes and ginger tea. Lunch is all about just gobbling up something unless I have a lunch meeting when I end up eating more. My dinner is extremely light. I've just developed a sweet tooth, and I love to gorge on rasmalai, rasogullas and ice creams whenever possible.
I don't have very strong likes or dislikes as far as food goes, but when I dine out it's mostly Chinese, Continental and Indian in that order. I love to dine out at the Chinese Room, Sampan and Swati Snacks in Mumbai.

Shopping
Quite often, my better half and I go out on shopping sprees. I am more into shopping than my wife and love to buy a variety of gadgets and clothes but I must admit that I am a pacca marwari and am not very brand conscious. Despite this, I do end up buying more stuff than I really need in life.
I am very fond of watches. They should be functional, sturdy and smart. I have a Swatch, a Titan Edge, a Cartier and a 'Starcom' dial. I am very particular about my shoes and normally get them custom made especially from Jaipur which is my hometown.

I am a travel freak
I love travelling. I prefer train travel as compared to air travel. More than globetrotting, I love to discover and rediscover the mystique of India. Our country is really a miniglobe and there are fabulous places to visit here. I have seen most of the places in the southern and the northern part of the country. I am about to finish exploring the western region and yet to venture out to the far eastern parts of the country.

My best holiday ever has been three years after my marriage; when the entire extended family went driving in a Sumo for an eight -day trip to Nainital, Ranikhet and Almora. It was an awesome journey because it was largely unplanned.
Apart from this, my work often takes me to various places like - US, Australia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan and other South East Asian countries. So, I often take some extra days off to explore tourist places.

My relaxing mantra

My professional life really keeps me busy all the time. There was a time when I used to think weekends are an interruption to work. But, I am much saner now! My family is a real stress buster for me. After my work, I love to go home and play with my two month old baby boy, and of course my elder son. I make it a point to travel at least twice a year with my family and look forward to the vacations.

Gadgets & Gizmos
I am not really a gizmo freak, but I am gizmo friendly. I don't like changing mobiles very often. I own a Panasonic D50 DVD camcoder, a Palm Treo 650, IPOD Photo and a Sony Cybershot.

Favourite Car
I love cars and I dream of cars. In fact, I love anything on four wheels even if it means driving a truck. I love to go for test drives and try out different types of cars. Currently, I drive the Accent GLS and my dream is to possess a Bimmer some day.

On Books
I don't spend too much on books; though my wife who's working with an insurance company does love to buy books. More than reading, I believe that I have learnt more from life. I like John Grisham and have read almost everything he's written till date. I have loved his Runaway Jury and The Broker.

I have a fetish for movies
I am a movie buff. I personally prefer Bollywood flicks as compared to Hollywood. I think our films are richer in texture and canvas, while Hollywood movies spend more money on technology. Having said that, I think Bollywood films are real paisa vasool.
Amongst the recent films, I quite liked Black, Parineeta, Dus, My Wife's Murder and , Bunty aur Babli. I 've yet to see Iqbal.

Some things I wish to do
I think, if this industry was to sack me, I would have a lot of alternate professions. I would love to be a chauffeur, as I love cars. I love kids and can open a day care center one day. I think given my fetish for Bollywood flicks, I can even be a movie critic someday. I often find that the ratings, specific comments on direction, acting, screenplay and story given by me are almost similar to the ones given by some movie critics. I would, love to act in plays. I know, it requires time and training but one day, I am going to find the time for it.

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.