Mumbai CEO Goes Offline for 16 Days, Revisits 3,000 Messages and Convinces

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Piramal Finance, Jairam Sridharan, spoke at length about the result of a long hiatus from work and social media and the realization it brought him. In a LinkedIn post, Sridharan shared that when he returned from his 16-day break, he was greeted with thousands of unread messages and emails. But his greatest realization was simple: “Everything in the world is going well without me.

A complete break from work

Describing his time away, Sridharan wrote, “Returned to ‘normal life’ last night after a 16-day break. For those 16 days, I had no access to email, no answering calls, no social media chats, no checking the news… Basically, I avoided anything that could remotely take my time away from my family and bring friends so that we can fully devote ourselves to work with our family and get back to spending time together.”

The CEO stated that he deliberately avoided anything that might draw him back to professional duties, choosing instead to fully focus on spending time with family and friends.

Thousands of messages were waiting for him

When he finally turned on his phone, Sridharan found around 3,000 unread WhatsApp messages, nearly 2,000 emails and hundreds of missed calls. Some of these calls were from his boss and one of the company’s partners.

He also discovered that several important events had occurred during his absence.

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Reflecting on what he missed, Sridharan wrote: “May end of month exercise has come and gone. My absence has made no difference. RBI has made some big ticket policy announcements on the forex side. Rupee is still at 95 though. Oil seems to have dropped below $100 though. I don’t know why but let’s not look the gift house in the mouth, shall we?”

He noted that work continued as usual despite his absence, while there were also significant economic developments.

Personal milestones and key realization

Sridharan said his close friend experienced a significant and difficult life event while he was away. He also missed Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s title win in IPL 2026 and returned to find the road in front of his home dug up.

Despite everything that happened in those two weeks, he said the most important lesson remained: “Everything in the world is going well without me.”

“Priceless” time with family

Looking back on the experience, Sridharan acknowledged that being completely disconnected came with trade-offs. However, he believes the rewards far outweigh the inconveniences.

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“The time off the device and the interruption comes with a certain cost, certain sacrifices. But being able to be 100% present with my family for two weeks? Priceless,” he wrote.

Social networks are applauding the decision

The post quickly went viral on social media, with several people praising the CEO’s decision to take time off from work entirely during the vacation.

One user commented: “In an age where distractions are all around us, being able to completely switch off for such a long period of time and have time for myself and family feels like a superpower!”