He�s studied mechanical engineering at IIT Mumbai, public management
at Carnegie Melon University, and spent a year at MIT studying technology
policy, economics, engineering and management. But don�t expect Jairam
Ramesh, currently secretary in the economic affairs department of the
Congress, to tell you about it. Ramesh�s reticence is most unusual,
for one who is such an ubiquitous presence on TV � adviser to former
PM PV Narasimha Rao for 100 days in 1991, adviser to former FM P Chidambaram
in 1996-97 and now one of those who provides �inputs� to Congress President
Sonia Gandhi�s speeches.

But then, Ramesh�s habit of retiring to bed early with a book, surfing
the Internet for at least two hours every day, and spending every odd
day at the India International Centre library catching up with the International
Herald Tribune doesn�t quite endear him to the cocktail crowd.

Ramesh would rather spend his time boning up on his economics. It�s
something he might end up teaching 10 years from now when he takes VRS
from politics. Or then, he might do something on inter-faith dialogue.
Though a devout Hindu, Ramesh is also seriously into Buddhism.

�Not Buddhist ritual,� he says hastily, �I see myself more as a student
of the Buddha.� It is this liberalism which has naturally led him to
the Congress. �For a liberal in India, the Congress is the only game
in town. The Left is eliminated because of its economic ideology and
the BJP, because of its social ideology.�

Yet, no one should expect every aspect of his life to be informed by
his politics. After all, Ramesh did begin as a technocrat. It was Manmohan
Singh, former Union finance minister, who picked three young men � Ramesh,
now 47, was only 32; Rakesh Mohan and Arvind Virmani � and placed them
in the Planning Commission. The year was 1986 and Ramesh was asked to
work on industry. He worked with Sam Pitroda on the Technology Mission
and came into contact with Rajiv Gandhi. He quit the Planning Commission
and started working with him. When Narasimha Rao became PM, he was his
adviser for all of 100 days. �I still don�t know why I was removed.
All he told me was at that point he needed me in the PMO and now he
needed me somewhere else,� he says.

Which is when he decided to make some money and, in 1994, quit the government
and plunged into TV. For 480 days, he would get up at 3.30 in the morning
to anchor a daily business breakfast show on DD and squeeze in a weekly
Crossfire too. �The only two politicians I met were Dr Manmohan Singh
and Chidambaram.�

But then in 1996, Chidambaram, who was in the United Front government,
called him and off he went again to join as his adviser. When the UF
government fell, he got a call from Pranab Mukherjee and joined as joint
secretary, economic affairs, Congress. That�s where he�s been since
then, with a minor nomenclature change. �My days in the revolving door
are finally over,� he says. And as he proudly displays his Libretto,
which he calls his portable office, and talks about his love for music,
you realise that the glib exterior that you see on TV, ready to roll
with his Jairam-isms, is actually a very serious politician indeed.