What was your first job?
My first job was working for a steel company in Calcutta as a management trainee in 1976. I had to check the weight and condition of steel billets as they came in and went out. I sat for three months on my own in a dockside cabin waiting for ships, trains and trucks to arrive.

Is there any piece of tech legislation that will have an effect on your business?
I work for BT. I’m not sure that I can find any piece of tech legislation that won’t affect the business.

Which mobile device do you currently use?
I have a legally unlocked iPhone that acts as my phone, push mail device and palmtop browser.

How often do you check it?
Not as often as I used to. My email volume has dropped a lot as I’ve moved to other social tools ­ people connect with me via Twitter, Facebook and my blog, Confused of Calcutta.

What technology would you save in a fire?
Some old analogue stuff that I collect passionately. They’re called books.

If you were not in IT, what would you be doing?
Teaching children the joy of reading and poetry during lunchtimes at the 21st century school that I intend to set up from scratch, where pupils use a back-channel to critique the teachers, and where teachers are shared resources that video in.

Which technology would you most like to have invented?
Something that would let me travel back in time so that I could choose concerts to go to. Any or all early Grateful Dead, The Beatles at Shea Stadium, Jim Croce, Simon and Garfunkel at Central Park, The Band’s Last Waltz and, controversially, Bob Dylan at Budokan. More seriously, something that makes it easier to match paper and type and condition when I’m trying to restore old books.