Raghuram Rajan's 'I do what I do', was hugely oversubscribed

Raghuram Rajan at his book launch

As expected, the launch of former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan's 'I do what I do', was hugely oversubscribed. The feisty and brilliant central banker with James Bond good looks, is something of a rock star, and no surprises then that this Friday's 6 PM event saw the Coomaraswamy Hall at the museum begin to fill up by 5, as the likes of Adi Godrej, Nadir and Rati Godrej, Shobhaa and Dilip De, Dolly Thakore, Khushroo Suntook, Bakul Patel, Pradip Madhavji, and Nira and Shyam Benegal scrambled for seats.

After a one-hour talk on the subjects of inflation and interest rates, the rock star ex-governor got down for a lively conversation with Anil Dharker that saw many in the audience on the edge of their seats, hoping to hear the renowned economist spill the beans on many issues irking the Indian economy. What's more the spotlight is said to have stayed on Rajan throughout the evening.

At the private dinner following the launch, guests waited anxiously for the evening's star to arrive, but he was busy at Coomaraswamy Hall signing hundreds of copies of his book. "Every time the door of the Taj's Jade Room opened, all eyes would surreptitiously look to see if the great man had arrived, but it would only be waiter with more snacks," reported one guest.

Incidentally, when he was asked by Dharker how the title of the book had come about, Rajan narrated how early in his governorship when a reporter had asked him which international central banker he most resembled, he had replied, "The name is Rajan, Raghuram Rajan, and I do what I do." See what we mean about the James Bond quality?