A Day With Grounded's Anjali Mangalgiri

Anjali at her desk. Photography by Carli Teteris

By Anjali Mangalgiri

Angali Mangalgiri is the founder of Grounded, an architectural practice based in Singapore and Goa, India. Anjali walks us through her day, which involves working from home with her two young daughters, and coordinating her team across Singapore and India. Also read Anjali’s feature interview for Madame Architect.

Before I jump into this, I must point out that my life at present is ruled by my breastfeeding schedule. My younger daughter is four months old and I feed her on a 3-hour schedule. I could not breastfeed my elder daughter beyond 4 months (in 2016) because of my workload. At that time, I was trying to bring a new client on-board, had day-long design meetings with them and was required to spend long hours on site, due to a smaller team. I have lived with that guilt for some time now and wanted to make it right with my second daughter.

Anticipating that, I refused to begin any new projects after I found out that I was pregnant in June last year. I also downsized my team, letting go of two long-term employees in India and one in Singapore. We also did not take on any intern last year. My objective was to keep my overheads low so I was not under any pressure during the first six months or so after my daughter’s birth. During this COVID lockdown, as design firms struggle to pay overheads, that turned out to be an unexpected advantage. India has been under strict lockdown since March and all construction activity has come to a halt. Even with this reality, I have been able to retain my smaller team and continue to pay them in full.

The mobile above Anjali’s bed. Photography by Carli Teteris

6:30am: I love waking up to the mobile above my bed. It has postcard sized versions of works of masters like Monet. I hate alarms. I find waking up to an alarm, an ‘alarming’ experience, reminding me of waking up to the feeling that you are going to miss the bus or train or flight.

I have two daughters, 4-year old Zoe and 4-months old Ila. They act as my natural alarms. It is usually Ila who wakes me up. She is a happy baby and I wake up to her cooing and laughing loudly in her crib.

7:30am: I usually begin my day by breastfeeding Ila. Zoe wakes up somewhere during that time and comes and hangs out with us and narrates a new pretend play scenario.

8:00am: We are extremely lucky to have a live-in helper. I hand Ila to my helper who changes her diaper and clothes. I take over Zoe and give her milk and make my coffee. We plan the day together (another pretend play scenario) and I cook her breakfast.

A Kingfisher on the tree outside Anjali’s balcony in Singapore.

I drink my coffee while Zoe eats her breakfast. We usually do that in the balcony as I like to be outdoors in the morning to breathe the fresh air, check on my plants, and point out the birds to Zoe. I also journal during this time. I use the journal to write down my feelings and emotions. I try consciously to not check my emails as I really need to draw some boundaries between work and family. I know that if I see something important then it will bother me until I get to my desk and that will not be until later.

8:30am: I cook a simple breakfast for my husband and myself - usually eggs. This is also the time when I read the newspaper cover to cover. The news these days tends to make me anxious so now I simply scan the paper and read only the important news.

9:30am: Zoe has her School Zoom class for half an hour, my husband manages that while I shower and get ready for the day.

10:00am: Zoe is packed off to her grandparent’s house for a few hours. They live across the street from us. I breastfeed Ila, and check my emails and social media.

11:00am: I start work by making a to-do list. This is the start to my most productive three hours, so I have to be super focused. I do not look at social media during this time and sometimes even shut off emails.

A close-up of Anjali’s desk, by Carli Teteris

I also have to-do lists for each of my team members that is shared with them (on Google Keep), I update these lists too. In Singapore, I am two hours ahead of India time, so I can luckily keep the first hour for my own heads-down work. I usually use this time to review work that has been sent to me, work on design ideas or write.

12:30pm: I begin my phone calls with India. For internal calls, we have used Skype way before the need for it during the current call to ‘stay at home’. We share screens with each other to facilitate our discussions. I speak to everyone in the India office who has a question, we work together on drawings and documents. These calls can stretch to be very long and continue until lunch.

All of our construction activity in India has come to a halt during the lockdown, so we are using this time to pick up on items that had been overlooked with the pressure of day to day work. We are also strategizing on growth and marketing for the business. We have resurrected our newsletter and our blog. We have also started doing mentoring sessions for students and young graduates via Instagram LIVE. The first one addressed the theme of living and job hunting in the COVID world.

1:30pm: Breastfeeding time again, and Zoe is back (she showers and eats lunch at her grandparent’s house). She has missed us and is running around the house in excitement!

2:00pm: Lunch. We are in great shape here as my mother-in-law sends lunch for us. It is simple Indian food and it is a true blessing.

3:00pm: I let Zoe play on educational games on the iPad and I do some more work.

Since my time on my computer is now very limited with the kids at home, I have become very good at managing a lot of work through my phone. I respond to all my emails on the phone, and I have my entire computer hard drive mapped on Dropbox so I can access any file from my phone and share them with my team at a moment’s notice. I do all my to-do lists on Google keep, which can be easily accessed and shared through the phone.

3:30pm: I put Zoe down for a nap which sometimes can take up to half an hour. I then return to my desk with a snack. An hour later it’s breastfeeding time again with a good dose of social media.

5:30pm: Zoe is up from her nap and I have to stop work at this point. I take over both the kids now, as my helper prepares dinner. I massage Ila and give her a bath. Zoe has her evening snack.

6:30pm: This my golden hour. Zoe gets her TV time and Ila is napping after her bath. I don my face mask and take off for a walk where I listen to podcasts (usually women entrepreneurs interviewing other women entrepreneurs and creatives). This is my only ‘me’ time of the day and it is absolutely essential. I really need to disconnect. I do not want to think about work or family at this time.

7:30pm: Breastfeeding time.

8:00pm: Dinner is a big deal. All of us eat together and usually play bingo or read Zoe a book.

9:30pm: Bedtime. Ila is already fast asleep by now. My husband does Zoe’s sleep routine and then I put her to bed. In the unlikely scenario that I don’t sleep myself, I will go and watch one episode of a show on Netflix with my husband. Some days, I breast feed Ila again around 10pm, if she needs it. She often begins to stir around 3:00am, when I give her the pacifier, and then feed her once more around 4:30am.