Top Of The Heap

Gita Gopinaths journey from a middle-class Indian girl to the IMFs chief economist is a saga of hard work and grit, breeding intellectual leadership

- Prathima Nandakumar

SHE WAS BARELY seven when her enthusiastic father arranged vegetables on a table in groups, to help her understand the concept of multiplication. Today, what she brings to the table will impact the world economy.

The appointment of India-born Gita Gopinath as International Monetary Fund’s chief economist has made Indians proud. The 46-year-old’s journey from a middle-class Mysuru girl to a world-class economist is a saga of hard work, focus and grit, breeding intellectual leadership.

Her parents’ residence in Mysuru is teeming with people, as her well-wishers troop into the verandah overlooking the well-manicured lawns. Gita’s father, T.V. Gopinath, gets emotional recalling his daughter’s journey. “It is no small achievement. We are grateful to god,” says Gopinath, who heads Raita Mitra, a farmers’ collective. He is home from his farm in Bilikere village near Mysuru city to handle the stream of visitors.

Gita’s mother, V.C. Vijayalakshmi, who ran a very popular playhouse for 35 years, says, “My daughter is only my baby, although the world sees her as a celebrity today. In spite of her tight schedule, she calls me every evening. What more can I ask for?”

Currently, the John Zwaanstra professor of international studies and economics at Harvard University, Gita was born on December 8, 1971, in Calcutta, during the Bangladesh war. “In 1980, we came to Mysore. Gita was nine, and joined Nirmala Convent in class four. I had quit my job to take care of my ailing mother,” says Gopinath.