Review of Duvvuri Subbarao’s Just a Mercenary? Notes from my Life and Career: Fire fighter

In a candid memoir, former RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao takes readers through the highs and lows of a life in service. Review of Duvvuri Subbarao’s Just a Mercenary? Notes from my Life and Career

Duvvuri Subbarao is one of the Reserve Bank of India governors (2008-2013) who was tested as soon as he entered office.

He had to navigate the Indian macroeconomy through the 2008 financial crisis, which had set off halfway across the globe but tremors threatened to reach domestic shores. Most agree that through a combination of prudent fiscal and monetary policymaking, India came out of the financial crisis relatively unscathed.

He was tested again in 2013 when India had to deal with the infamous “taper tantrum” originating in the U.S. With a rapidly falling rupee and skyrocketing import costs, his tenure saw the dollar appreciate by over 19% against the rupee within a year. To add to the chaos, he oversaw the clamping down on inflation, which had surged during the same period. Nevertheless, it must be said that India showed remarkable growth over this period, for which at least some credit is owed to the RBI’s efforts and its ability to put out fires as they came up.

His illustrious career as a member of the civil service, in tandem with his competence as an RBI governor, starkly contrasts with his frank admission of not knowing whether he ever served a higher purpose or did what was expected of him in the role assigned to him, as he writes in Just a Mercenary? Notes from my Life and Career. In loosely chronological order, we see the author contemplate whether he had merely acted as a mercenary rather than serving ambitions larger than just doing justice to the job assigned to him.

Subbarao cautions us at the beginning of the book to not expect any overarching structure as such but rather a series of notes and recollections. However, he invites readers to be more than mere observers but adjudicators of his professional career. The author’s narration and writing style give off an air of authentic candidness not commonly found. Subbarao does not shy away from crediting a part of his success to being at the right place at the right time.

Moreover, it is amusing and even fascinating to witness an individual who had led India’s central bank through economic turmoil admit that he was stumped during his UPSC interview by some of the questions and had wanted to churn out an excuse for his inability to answer instinctively. Subbarao successfully brings a sense of humanness and humour through his refreshingly vulnerable and matter-of-fact narration. His wit, sometimes even sardonic, adds to the readability of the topic at hand, be it in the civil service or as the RBI governor, which may come off as inaccessible to a larger audience.

Just a Mercenary? Notes from my Life and Career; Duvvuri Subbarao, Penguin, ₹799.