A day in the life of a Twitter exec in Singapore, who fits in an hour of 'me time' during his workday and doesn't plan on going back to the office full-time

He's responsible for growing Twitter's business across Southeast Asia, according to a Twitter spokesperson.

Before joining Twitter in 2013, Gujral was the head of digital and innovation at Aircel, a telecom operator in India. He has also lived and worked in Silicon Valley.

Gujral told Insider that he's started living a healthier lifestyle during the pandemic.

"Before the pandemic struck, I was on a plane almost every week — meaning irregular sleep, an unhealthy carb-led diet, drinking during weekdays, and no time to work out," he said. "My current routine corrects all these mistakes made during my travels."

When he returns to traveling for work again, Gujral says he will bring his healthy lifestyle with him. Still, he said he can't wait to visit his teams in the region to share a coffee "or something stronger" with them in person.

Here's a peek into Gujral's daily routine in Singapore, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

"I typically enjoy my breakfast while switching between Bloomberg, CNBC, and CNA on the television," he said.

"Yoga is a relatively recent addition to my life (all credit to my wife), and it has really helped me manage the various aches and pains channel ling throughout my decaying (!), worn-out body," Gujral said.

The dumbbell is the only home gym investment he's made since Singapore's coronavirus lockdown, but it allows him to work out almost every part of his body at home, he said.

While he works out, Gujral listens to podcasts instead of music.

"I am a firm believer in 'continuous learning' and I use this time to learn about philosophy, astronomy, anthropology, history, as well as occasionally mixing it up with plain old fiction thrillers," he said.

Some of his favorites include "The Daily" from The New York Times, "Against The Rules" by Michael Lewis, "The Seen And The Unseen" by Amit Varma, and "Throughline" and "Planet Money" by NPR.

Twitter provided a budget for all global employees to set up a home office, so Gujral bought an office desk and ergonomic chair (helpful for his lower back issues), a printer, and a standing desk.

"I share this room with my younger son whose study desk is also in the same room, so you can imagine taking calls becomes quite a challenge on days when he is home," Gujral said.

Before the pandemic, Gujral said he liked to keep his work and home worlds separate.

"Now that the inter-mix has happened there is no going back," he said. "While I miss the serendipity that an office environment provides, I don't see myself going back full-time to the office in the near-term."

It's with the board of Interactive Advertising Bureau Southeast Asia and India (IAB SEA+India), of which he's a member.

His fellow panelists include the Global CMO of Dole and the Chief Investment Officer of media agency Mindshare. The marketing community still has "much more distance to cover" in diversity and inclusion, Gujral said.

"Anyone else find that work definitions slowly end up creeping into family life?" Gujral said. "I have to admit, I've found myself talking in quarters even when talking to my wife about events in our life happening!"

Gujral said they like to keep lunch light and simple.

"There are times where our lunch is nothing more than a plate of fruits, an acai bowl, or just some baked veggies with a protein on the side," he said.

"Inspired by a virtual class on the 'Art of Clear Writing,' I've been exploring the 'potential author' in me (that's been stated in my Twitter bio since 2008)," Gujral said.

He publishes some of his short stories on Substack.

He enjoys an Indian chai tea, in which he dunks three measured rusks, an Indian crispbread snack.

After his meetings finish at 5:30 p.m., Gujral plays cricket with his seven-year-old son.

"I've devised a novel scoring system and our game becomes highly competitive," Gujral said. "It's incredible how much trash talk a seven-year old is capable of."

"This is when we all catch up with each other and hear from our teenage son," Gujral said. "Teenagers seemingly live in a parallel universe, operating on a completely different time zone, so my wife and I really treasure these moments when our two worlds collide."

Their dinners typically fluctuate between Indian food like vegetable kebabs, palak paneer, lentils, and chicken curry, to non-Indian fare like roasted chicken, Tuscan butter salmon, or pasta, Gujral said. "I try to avoid carbs at dinner as much as possible," he said.

After dinner, Gujral cuddles with his seven-year-old while reading him a book in bed — right now it's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." His son is tucked in for bed by 8 p.m.

He finishes up any final tasks and prepares for the following day.

"Rom-com or thriller? To preserve my marriage of more than 20 years, I cannot reveal the victor," Gujral said.

At 11 p.m., they head to bed.

"My bedtime routine after a shower has been the same for the last 20 years," Gujral said. "Regardless of what time I go to bed, I must have a book in my hand. The only thing that's changed is that I've replaced physical books with a Kindle since we've run out of space. We are a family of voracious readers."

Gujral usually alternates between reading a thriller and a thought-provoking book. He recently finished "The Forty Rules of Love" by Elif Shafak and is now reading "Death in the East" by Abir Mukherjee.

He reads for about 30 to 45 minutes before going to sleep.