For five years, Finance Secretary Montek Singh Ahluwalia's reverse-tied turbans—the top fold goes left to right instead of the usual right to left—have been an icon of the Indian reforms. Only Dr Manmohan Singh is associated more strongly in the public mind with liberalisation. When Padma Rao-Sundarji caught up with Ahluwalia at the Indian Consulate-General in New York a few hours before the Secretary returned home after a whirlwind US trip, he looked tired but as dapper as ever. Sipping the finest Darjeeling tea, he was willing to, for the first time, talk about the full first stage of the reforms: getting the Indian economy back from the brink, the achievements and failures, and the unfinished agenda.