In 1985, Jahangir Aziz, then 22, preferred Jawaharlal Nehru University to others more because it had a good dormitory. Armed with a bachelor’s degree from St Xavier’s and having “survived” Calcutta University, Aziz did have a blast at JNU. After spending a few months at the Indian Statistical Institute, he headed to the “world’s most libertarian economic department” at the University of Minnesota, US. While both Aziz and his wife Monali Chowdhurie wanted to return home after studies in the US, it took them, well, more than 20 years to finally get back to Delhi.

As Principal Economic Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Aziz, now 45, suddenly finds himself in the thick of policy-making in turbulent times: high inflation, slowing growth and general elections early next year. But even as he grapples with the situation, he doesn’t lose his most fantastic trait—a sense of humour that makes riding the storm seem easy. “People practice economics much better in their everyday life than most economists do. Why should we fret then,” he says.

It was Ashok Lahiri, former Chief Economic Advisor and Aziz’s professor at JNU, who facilitated his homecoming. When Lahiri caught up with Aziz in 2007 at the International Monetary Fund, where Aziz was division chief for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at the Fund, he repeated a question he had often asked Aziz: “Are you coming back home?” And this time, Aziz couldn’t refuse.

It took almost a year for the Indian government to clear his appointment in January 2008 and he joined in April. “I am not new to bureaucracy,” Aziz winks, referring to the years he spent with the IMF, which took another three months to grant him leave. But it has been worth the wait, because, for one, he brings home a lot of wisdom and unknown facts about China, where he worked for the last four years.

... contd.