Colorbar’s Samir Modi has perfected some WFH hacks, even finds time to cook & paint

Working from home was a change of pace for Colorbar founder Samir Modi but it gave him the opportunity to try something that he had been putting off for a while.

“Cooking and painting have been my saviours [during this lockdown],” he tells ETPanache from his Delhi home. “I must admit that working from home was a challenge in the beginning. I was apprehensive whether I would be able to work without face-to-face interactions with my team. But slowly, I was able to adapt. Sometimes I feel that I am working more now than before the lockdown,” he adds.

His coping strategy — checking his email after dinner. “I do my ‘thinking tasks’ when I am the most productive, which is usually at night. I spend a considerable amount of time reading and researching various internet sites.”


Prepping for a new world
According to Modi, the majority of his day is spent in meetings and research.

“One of my biggest worries is for my people and my businesses post-lockdown. I know that things will be very different. We will need to reboot and reset our ways of thinking, working and living life. So, I am talking to a lot of people — friends, family and business associates — to figure out the next steps.

“I have a town hall every week with all employees — my ‘Samirness family’ — followed by updates from teams of the five companies I am a part of. Post 7 pm, I connect with my kids, my mother and my friends,” he says.

Cooking has always been a “de-stressing mechanism” for Modi and he has been using his time to brush up on his skills and advance his palate. “I am trying to cook various cuisines like Mexican, Indian, Lebanese and Thai,” he says.