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Zen-like calm helps ex-CEA juggle many roles | Hyderabad News
Till about three months ago, he held the coveted post of chief economic adviser (CEA) where he played a key role in formulating India’s policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Today, apart from being a professor at the Hyderabadbased premier B-School, the Indian School of Business (ISB), Krishnamurthy Subramanian also devotes time to upping his spiritual quotient, learning Carnatic music and working on a few book projects.
And what comes through, this array of assignments, is his passion and calmness, which, he says, helped him during his stint as CEA between 2018 and 2021.
“One big change that I’ve seen in me is that I am far more spiritually inclined compared to before,” Subramanian says.
But this Zen-like attitude didn’t come to him overnight. It’s taken over 20 years of work.
It started with a conversation about life that took place at IIT Kanpur with his younger brother, who prodded Subramanian about his life goals and the higher purpose o f life. That marked the beginning of his spiritual journey and since then this quest has seen waxing and waning phases. “There have been timeswhen I have been regular inmy ‘Sadhana’ and there havebeen times where ‘Maya’has got hold of mewhen I have beenless concernedabout my spiritualpart…” he says. Subramaniansays his spiritual streak,which includes activitiessuch as ‘Sadhana’ and ‘Pranayam’, helps him live better. “I don’t get stressed because I do my work with passion, but I’m dispassionateenough to not be attached tothe result. That helped particularly during the pandemic (and the CEA job),”he says. On the research front,he wants to create abody of workfocussed onIndia that will help economists formulate better policies in the future.
Subramanian said that a lot of economic thinking has to be tailored to fi t India because almost all economic theories have been constructed for the advanced economies that are at a different stage of development than we are.
Besides, he is also in the process of penning two books — one on the monetary system and the other on the phenomena of wilful default.
“I’m not burning the midnight oil. I get seven hours of sleep because that is important for health as well. You can be productive only if you have good health,” he says, adding that he focuses on the quality of work rather than counting the number of hours.
And when Subrama- nian is not busy reading and writing, he loves to sing. One of the fi rst things he has done after stepping down from the post of CEA is to start learning Carnatic music from an ISB alum.
What amuses him is that sometimes his 15-year-old son, who has been learning Carnatic music for long, corrects him during practice sessions.
But Yesudas remains Subramanian’s all-time favourite. “I remember all the lyrics of every famous song up until the 70s…I also enjoy Sufi music and Indian classical music. ” Along with old Bollywood hits of Mohammad Rafi , Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, the economist is also fond of singers like Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghosal.
And like any other Indian, the ex-CEA is a movie buff and a cricket fan as well. “I used to bowl left-arm medium pace and bat righthanded,” says the all-rounder, who has played a matchwinning innings so far.
Today, apart from being a professor at the Hyderabadbased premier B-School, the Indian School of Business (ISB), Krishnamurthy Subramanian also devotes time to upping his spiritual quotient, learning Carnatic music and working on a few book projects.
And what comes through, this array of assignments, is his passion and calmness, which, he says, helped him during his stint as CEA between 2018 and 2021.
“One big change that I’ve seen in me is that I am far more spiritually inclined compared to before,” Subramanian says.
But this Zen-like attitude didn’t come to him overnight. It’s taken over 20 years of work.
It started with a conversation about life that took place at IIT Kanpur with his younger brother, who prodded Subramanian about his life goals and the higher purpose o f life. That marked the beginning of his spiritual journey and since then this quest has seen waxing and waning phases. “There have been timeswhen I have been regular inmy ‘Sadhana’ and there havebeen times where ‘Maya’has got hold of mewhen I have beenless concernedabout my spiritualpart…” he says. Subramaniansays his spiritual streak,which includes activitiessuch as ‘Sadhana’ and ‘Pranayam’, helps him live better. “I don’t get stressed because I do my work with passion, but I’m dispassionateenough to not be attached tothe result. That helped particularly during the pandemic (and the CEA job),”he says. On the research front,he wants to create abody of workfocussed onIndia that will help economists formulate better policies in the future.
Subramanian said that a lot of economic thinking has to be tailored to fi t India because almost all economic theories have been constructed for the advanced economies that are at a different stage of development than we are.
Besides, he is also in the process of penning two books — one on the monetary system and the other on the phenomena of wilful default.
“I’m not burning the midnight oil. I get seven hours of sleep because that is important for health as well. You can be productive only if you have good health,” he says, adding that he focuses on the quality of work rather than counting the number of hours.
And when Subrama- nian is not busy reading and writing, he loves to sing. One of the fi rst things he has done after stepping down from the post of CEA is to start learning Carnatic music from an ISB alum.
What amuses him is that sometimes his 15-year-old son, who has been learning Carnatic music for long, corrects him during practice sessions.
But Yesudas remains Subramanian’s all-time favourite. “I remember all the lyrics of every famous song up until the 70s…I also enjoy Sufi music and Indian classical music. ” Along with old Bollywood hits of Mohammad Rafi , Kishore Kumar and Mukesh, the economist is also fond of singers like Arijit Singh and Shreya Ghosal.
And like any other Indian, the ex-CEA is a movie buff and a cricket fan as well. “I used to bowl left-arm medium pace and bat righthanded,” says the all-rounder, who has played a matchwinning innings so far.
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