Weekend Retreat / Sunil Shibat

Sunil Shibat, creative director of the advertising agency Cosmos, doesn’t believe in keeping long hours. His day begins at 8.30, after which he spends an hour browsing through the morning papers and solving crosswords. "And all my ideas — the hard-core ones — happen at home," says Shibat. In the office by 10.30, he catches up with his e-mail and paper correspondence. Then he has these "tremendous" deadlines to meet. For that, Shibat sits with his art director and writers, working on captions and getting the brief just right. He hates attending meetings, as anything that goes beyond five minutes is "a major ego agenda". He makes it a point to leave the office by 6.30, from where he heads straight to a park. He spends at least 35 minutes walking and working out on the parallel bars. His ideal way of relaxing is "sleeping at the job". Shibat unwinds by staring at the sea for that much-needed break between work. "There is no set pattern for relaxing. I like going to Crossword and picking up books," says Shibat. Friday and Saturday evenings are reserved for reading, watching movies and meeting friends. And on Sundays, he plays cricket with the boys in his neighbourhood.